Howling At The Moon
by blacksand1
Summary: Seventeen years. A metamorphosis; from eleven to twenty-eight, from a child to a woman, from an angel to a wolf. Sniper Wolf's story, from 1988 to 2005. Eventual onsided WolfXBig Boss, Eventual LiquidXWolf. Rated for violence language and themes. COMPLETE
1. Chapter 1: Desert Sniper

_I own nothing from the canon of the Metal Gear series. For future reference, Sniper Wolf's name (Ferishteh, translates to 'angel') that I gave her actually has a Kurdish letter where the 'sh' is. Microsoft Word doesn't like to recognize it, however, so I've had to resort to using the 'sh'. Now, let's carry on._

_**-Desert Sniper-**_

The Syrian Desert is a hot, desolate, and (to use a Christian expression in the words of a Muslim) Allah-forsaken place. If I had any choice in the matter, I would not have left the highlands where I grew up. Wait, what am I saying? I'm not entirely grown up yet. I'm only eleven years old… Though, I have seen much more than an eleven-year-old ought to have seen in their lifetime.

I'm sorry; I've forgotten to introduce myself. That was very rude of me. My name- at the moment, I'm not sure when or if it might change- is Ferishteh Rekani. I was born on August 13, 1977. I am an Iraqi Kurd. My family, my friends, and I have been persecuted since before I can remember. Every day we moved throughout Iraq from shelter to shelter, but when I woke up every morning another one of us was dead. I prayed to Allah just to make it through the day. Sirens, gunfire and screams have become my lullabies. One day, I remember wondering when it would all be over.

I assumed the constant moving and the systematic elimination of our group would end when the world stopped turning a blind eye to our suffering and finally helped us. I never expected that today- August 23, 1988- it would end with the last of us, excluding myself, being caught in the poisonous blast of a gas bomb.

My mother had been an active revolutionary before she had me and my siblings, she recognized the bomb; all she had been able to do was push me far enough away from it and scream for me to hold my breath. I had watched as my mother, father, few friends and baby brother breathed in the toxic fumes. The youngest dropped to the floor, dead in seconds, while my parents and their friends took a little longer to die.

Some things are beyond tears. As I watched my mother struggle and suffer, none came to me; I simply stood frozen with my hands over my nose and mouth, my one showing sky blue eye wide as the sun while the other hid halfway behind my short curtain of thick golden hair. I was catatonic until I saw my father lose the last of his strength, then some sense came back to me and I sprinted into the desert.

I didn't care at that point that I was fleeing into a place much worse than where the Iraqi soldiers might take me. But later on, as I trudged through the desert with my feet feeling heavy as boulders and the sand feeling welcome in my eyes, I _really_ didn't care. There was nowhere left to go, I had nobody. I had a feeling that when by legs lost their will to move and I could carry myself no longer, that I would fall under the weight of my sorrows and finally cry.

_The sand in my eyes is provoking enough tears, _I thought to myself wryly. The sand-filled winds buffeted my eyes, but I didn't bother shielding them. They stung enough that I might think they had gotten infected, and tears were rolling down my dirty cheeks like waterfalls… waterfalls I had never seen, only heard about.

I had no idea, no idea at all where I was headed. When I tried to ask myself that question within my mind, the only thing that popped in as an answer was 'away'. I didn't have the stamina or the patience to figure out what that meant. When the skies darkened and the desert grew cold, my legs finally gave out and I face-planted right into the sand.

Sure enough, the tears created by the sandy winds disappeared and I began to cry. I cried not just for my mother, father, brother and friends, but also for myself, for my exhaustion and hunger and thirst and just because I wanted to cry. I cried until I fell asleep right there on the sands of the Syrian Desert, enjoying the deep, dreamless sleep that came with it.

Four hours later, I woke up. Normally, if mother or father didn't wake me prematurely, then I could sleep a good eight hours or so; maybe it was the fact that no sounds of war and suffering were around me. It was completely secluded out here, I was all alone besides whatever stupid creatures might want to call this place home.

Now, I had a dilemma on my hands; what was I supposed to do now that I was awake? I had nowhere to go and nobody to go to, after all. I was a war orphan. I sat there for approximately forty-five minutes before a thought popped into my mind: _Keep walking. _Instead of being a logical child and questioning why I should keep walking, I just shrugged, got to my spindly legs and began to walk. For the next two days, I formed something of a routine; I would walk, walk, and walk until my body couldn't take it any more, then fall flat on the spot and sleep. Since I was too exhausted for dreams- or my days were too repetitive, one of the two- I was able to gauge that I never slept for more than five hours. Then, I would get to my feet once more and walk through the desert.

I remembered a story from some religious book of a man leading millions of Hebrew people through Egypt to Israel without stopping, an unending walk; my own walk was not for a purpose so noble. My impromptu reason of 'away' had turned into 'as far away as humanly possible'.

The third day was when I met the first person that would shape my life into something brand new.

I had been mindlessly walking, one foot in front of the other, when I had spotted a strangely colored lump in the distance. I furrowed my eyebrows; I had grown accustomed to a horizon free of blemishes and a color scheme of blue and beige-ish yellow, give or take some of the ruins I had passed (and the ruins I was near now). Sure, my eyes weren't exactly focusing since I was walking in an almost zombie-like way in the heat without having eaten or drank for two days, but I could tell that the lump was genuinely there.

This lump had to be investigated, so I sped up a little bit, determined to do just this; however, I stopped a meter away from the 'lump' as my eyes were almost forced back into focus. This was no lump, but a man with dark skin leaning against a pillar on these ruins. He was holding a rifle, very filthy like myself, wearing a military-esque uniform, and most notably his legs from his mid-thigh were cut off. He had crudely bandaged them, but there was blood all over the bandages and where the stumps rested on the ruins.

He looked over at me, a hostile glint in his dark eyes for about two seconds (and causing me to instinctively tense up), but something clicked within his mind and the glint went away.

"You're Kurdish, yes?" he asked in accented Kurdish.

I was silent for a little bit before I gulped and replied, "Yes, sir. My name is Ferishteh Rekani."

"I am Ganju Rai. I am not Kurdish or Iraqi. I am a Gurkha," the man said. A few seconds of silence passed between us, and I had to say, it was rather awkward.

"… Right, you have no idea what that is. Well, it's not important, all you need to know is that I come from far away," Ganju explained.

"Sir… Why are you out here? And how did you end up…" I trailed off for fear of sounding rude. His eyes had already flicked down to his stumps, and a smirk formed on his face.

"The people I answer to aren't blind to the suffering of your people. I was sent here a while ago with a few others of my kind to help you, but that plan fell flat on its ass. The Iraqi's figured out, killed half of us and left the others out here with wounds like this," Ganju replied, patting the stumps of his legs when referring to 'wounds like this'. I had decided to sit cross-legged beside him, now somewhat relaxed in his presence.

"The others got their arms chopped off so that they couldn't bandage themselves up. I was lucky, I guess. Looks like instead of bleeding out, I'm going to die out here of starvation, thirst, and maybe infection if fortune smiles upon me," Ganju finished with a dry, cynical laugh. I had never once heard someone refer to dying of an infection as fortunate. For a brief moment, I wondered why he didn't just use the rifle to take his own life as my aunt had when I was seven; I then remembered what my father said about suicide. Smaller guns were always much more practical for it, a rifle would only complicate the affair.

"You and me both," I sighed. Ganju gave me an incredulous look.

"How old are you, kid?" he asked.

I frowned and snapped, "Please don't call me 'kid'. I have a name and I told you it, it's just rude to call me by something else unless you're a friend, and I don't think we're friends yet."

He chuckled a bit and muttered something I couldn't hear before agreeing to call me Ferishteh until we were friends.

"Now how old are you, _Fe-rish-teh_?" he asked again, emphasizing every syllable of my name in a sarcastic manner. I was satisfied with him calling me by my name, so I didn't care about his sarcasm.

"Eleven years old, last time I checked," I replied.

"Eleven… damn…" Ganju muttered under his breath in a tone that had a mixture of pity and anger in it; his left hand tightened around his rifle while his right clenched into a fist. I furrowed my eyebrows, puzzled by his reaction.

"You've made it this far into life with the Iraqis hunting you down, haven't you?" Ganju continued, getting a hold of himself.

"Yes, but I had my family and friends with me. Now I'm just a war orphan," I answered. Ganju bit his lower lip and clenched his fists once more, and I still didn't understand why.

"You still have the chance to get out of this desert and make something of yourself. I will haunt you obsessively if you die in the gutter out here like me," Ganju finished as he got a hold of himself once again.

"Why?" I asked. His behavior was peculiar, and this was strange as well. I just couldn't wrap my head around it.

"You're just a kid! You had family and friends before you got thrown out here. I've never had anyone. I'm a decent soldier, no crazy achievements. I'm not going to be remembered, I deserve to die in the gutter," Ganju replied fiercely, unable to pull himself together this time. I drew back, eyes widening once more and muscles tensing up again.

But Ganju didn't lash out at me. Instead, the Gurkha set his rifle against his shoulder, took aim at a tiny dot on the horizon (at least that's what I thought he was aiming for) and fired. I jumped instinctively to my feet at the sound, ready to run. But I calmed down as the dot on the horizon started and fell to the ground, becoming one with the desert horizon.

Now, instead of being frightened, I was astonished; I couldn't even tell what that had been from this far away, and Ganju had hit it perfectly.

"Iraqi soldier patrolling for runaways like you," Ganju said, almost as if he was answering my thoughts.

"How- how did you even know that was a soldier?! He was so far away, how did you even hit him?!" I blurted out, whipping around to look at Ganju with wide, amazed eyes.

Ganju grinned and propped the rifle against the pillar before folding his arms behind his head and replying, "I wasn't anything to scream about in the army, but hell if I wasn't a damn good sniper. I didn't even need a scope to see a target from a mile or more away. I didn't have any cool nicknames, besides the ones I gave myself, but I deserve at least one for that."

I didn't know what a sniper was exactly, so I stayed quiet. Ganju basked within his own memories for a minute or two before an idea sparked within his dark eyes.

"Say, why don't I do something worth remembering right now?" he wondered. I blinked a couple times in confusion.

Ganju turned to me with a grin and asked further, "Want me to teach you how to snipe, _Fe-rish-teh_?" I pondered this for all of five seconds before nodding in the affirmative and sitting next to Ganju once more.

"Good thing I brought plenty of ammo, then," Ganju muttered before saying at a normal volume, "We start right now."

"But there's nobody to shoot," I pointed out.

"A sniper is an assassin who kills from a distance, Ferishteh. You sometimes have to wait for weeks on end for your target. Might as well get used to waiting now," Ganju replied. He gave me the rifle and instructed me to lie as low as I could on my stomach; I did so without question and found that I was level with the horizon.

"Now, aim the rifle at the horizon and make sure to keep you head up not too high from the ground," Ganju ordered. I followed this command, but Ganju re-maneuvered my positioning so that the rifle was in front of me and I was looking down the length of it like a guiding instrument of some sort. He told me to remember this posture, because it was the best for sniping; I made a mental note to remember it.

And so we waited; it might have been an hour, maybe two, but I was too preoccupied with the anticipation. I was going to kill someone, a soldier, one of the people that had made life difficult for me for so long. Now I knew how Ganju could tell the dot from before was a soldier; everything looked so much clearer when looking down the length of a rifle. I spotted a few jackals during that time along with a gazelle, and I had been able to tell exactly that they were such.

When I saw the familiar dot, I said, "There, an Iraqi soldier…"

"Shoot," Ganju replied steadily. I gulped and bit my tongue before pulling the trigger; the soldier fell dead to the ground, the rifle kicked a little (leaving my arms sore), the shot sounded, and that was it. I had been told by my mother that killing a person felt awful, that it felt like a little piece of your soul had just been torn away. I felt exactly the same, though a little sore.

"… You're a natural," Ganju proclaimed with a grin, slapping me on the back. I grinned as well, proud of my accomplishment. For the next week, Ganju trained me in the nuances of sniping. Neither of us ate or drank, Ganju because he was determined to die in the gutter and myself because I knew if I left to get food I might not come back. I grew close the Gurkha. He was my first friend that I hadn't known since before the memories fuzzed out, and because of that I allowed him to call me 'kid' once more.

But as the week wore on, my friend was getting weaker and weaker. Ganju had been starving and dehydrated longer than I had, and by the fifth day of the week, he was having hallucinations. Any time I offered to find food and water for him, he declined it.

"I said I was going to die in the gutter, and by God I'm going to die in the gutter," he would mutter. But his heart wasn't in it. On the seventh day, he could take no more.

"Kid… I want you to kill me," Ganju murmured weakly around sunset that day as I surveyed the horizon for any soldiers. These last few days had been slow when it came to enemies, so we conserved ammunition and tried not to kill anything when I wasn't being taught. My head whipped around quick enough for me to get whiplash.

"But- you can last a few more days! You want to die in the gutter, don't you?" I asked frantically.

"Looks like I can't even do that right. Please, kid, go out to the horizon and kill me. It'll be your final exam," Ganju replied with a weak smirk. I stared at him in silence for a long time, chewing my lower lip and hugging the rifle to my undeveloped chest like a doll. He was my only companion, the only one I had left, and I couldn't lose another person by my own hand! But… it was what he wanted…

I nodded weakly and got to my feet, walking towards the horizon. My feet felt like boulders once more, and it went by both quickly and slowly; I was a mile away in no time. I turned around, lay flat on my stomach, and positioned the rifle so that I was looking down the length of it. Ganju looked like a little dot perched on top of the barrel, like a flea that had decided the rifle would be home. Once again, time was lost to me as I lay there, waiting to kill. It could've been an hour, two, or even more. The voice that had been telling me my reasons for running (_away, as far away as humanly possible_) now took on the voice of Ganju, and told me to shoot.

A tear rolled down my dirty cheek, I bit down on my tongue, and I pulled the trigger; Ganju started, slumped over to the side (dead, deader than the ruins they called home), the shot sounded, my arms, throat, tongue and heart felt sore, and it was done. Now I knew what my mother had been talking about; a chunk of my soul, my heart, had been ripped away by an ethereal being and was gone forever.

As the sun disappeared and the desert turned cold, I got to my spindly legs and walked back to the ruins. When I reached Ganju's body, something sparked within me.

"I'm not going to die in the gutter, Ganju. Just you watch, I'll stay alive," I proclaimed out loud. I now had a plan. Carefully I scrounged through Ganju's clothing and retrieved the extra ammo (enough to last me through several targets) along with a kukri knife, some rudimentary medical supplies and an empty canteen. Like a cat burying its waste, I buried Ganju's corpse under the sand. Then, I took the kukri knife in one hand and the canteen in the other, searching for a gazelle to eat.

I formed a routine from then on. I slept for four hours during the day before collecting any water I could find (I had to resort to my own sweat several times before I thought of ground water), then hunted for any animals I could find during the night to eat. I was going to survive, one way or another. Not many soldiers came through, so my ammo lasted. It lasted for three years.

Three years spent living on a ruin, surviving on what I could find and waiting, waiting, waiting (for what, I didn't know yet). At fourteen, my metamorphosis had begun. But I wasn't done yet. I would need to meet the other man that would change my life in this desert.

It would take much longer than three years for me to turn from a girl to a woman.

And it would take even _longer_ to turn from an angel to a wolf.


	2. Chapter 2: Saladin

_Well, here we are again. Today, we've skipped several years and now it's 1991. You know what that means! Gulf War Time! And Wolf meets Big Boss time! Whee, we're relevant! So, I own nothing, and I hope you all enjoy! And I apologize for any and all suck when it comes to my writing of Big Boss. He's hard to write dammit! I also won't be able to properly depict Wolf's currently poor English, for I know nothing of Kurdish grammar and I don't want to screw with your minds by writing her inaccurate accent. _

_**-Saladin-**_

When you've lived out there for three years, surviving on whatever you can get your claws on, the Syrian Desert isn't that bad. The heat can be ignored if you go about it right, the ground water isn't that bad, raw gazelle meat is actually quite nice, and a wounded jackal is quite friendly to the nearest person with rudimentary medical supplies. In fact, they can be trained to find things for you to eat and to point you in the direction of the nearest oasis; that's if you're friendly and polite enough, anyways.

If you've forgotten, I'm Ferishteh Rekani. I'm now fourteen years old, and I've been living out here on some ruins in the Syrian Desert for three years. The routine I mentioned when we last met had changed when I nursed a wounded jackal back to health; the creature repaid my kindness by showing me prime hunting grounds and an oasis not too far away. Since travelers conglomerate around oases, I would go to it at night to gather my water for the next day.

This was in 1990, the year that a war between the Iraqis and soldiers I could only assume were American broke out. I was busy sniping during the day, taking out any Iraqis causing trouble for the Americans. I always hid myself just before the Americans could see me, though I'm not sure why. But today- February 1, 1991- was the day my life would change once more. When I would meet him.

As the sun rose over the horizon, I reloaded my rifle with a frown. I was running low on ammunition, and I wasn't proficient in hand-to-hand combat against humans. I would be defenseless out here… I suppose what really bothered me was that I thought I had a purpose when I was sniping out here in the lonely desert; without my bullets, I couldn't snipe. I would have no purpose, and I'd probably end up dying in the gutter, as Ganju had wanted to.

"Can't let that happen, now can I?" I muttered to myself. Now that my breasts were developing and putting pressure on them hurt (as Ganju would put it) like a bitch, my sniping position had changed to sitting against the pillar with one of my knees drawn up so that I could rest the rifle on it and look through the imaginary sight that the length of it pretended to be. I heard a bit of fighting during the night while I brought my food back to the ruins, so I was almost sure that there would be some today. I waited there for several hours, but once more time was lost on me. It could've been five minutes for all I knew.

I was brought out of my sniping trance when, halfway to the horizon, more Iraqis than I had bullets and fingers were chasing down an American soldier. He was an older man with an eye patch army fatigues and a beard, and it looked pretty certain to me that he was _not _going to do well in this fight. But right as I was about to start shooting, an Iraqi went down. My showing eye widened; that American had just taken him out! He only had a knife and a pistol with him… Before I could blink, the older man had stabbed another soldier, shot yet another, then proceeded to bring their numbers down quickly and efficiently until he was out of ammunition and there were only two of them left.

"Looks like I can step in now," I murmured with a smirk. I aimed right for the head of the closer Iraqi and fired without hesitation. It was a direct hit, as always, and the soldier fell to the ground. Both the older man and the other soldier were shocked by the sudden appearance of this bullet and were looking around for a sniper; the older man saw me quickly, but the soldier did not… I aimed and fired again, the soldier falling dead on top of his companion. I then cursed under my breath; that was the last of this magazine. I loaded the very last magazine into the rifle and was just about to flee, but a shadow passed over me.

I didn't have to look up to know it was the older American. In fact, I was almost afraid to look up; he had killed all those soldiers so easily with just a pistol and a knife, he could probably do worse with his bare hands. The two of us said nothing to each other for a little bit before he asked me something in Arabic. When on the run with my family, I had no use for speaking Arabic, so I only ever knew Kurdish. I barely understood what the man said.

I gulped nervously, looked up at the man and replied in Kurdish, repeating what I just 'said' and explaining that I didn't understand him.

He frowned, muttered something to himself in English (maybe, I'm not sure), and replied in accented Kurdish, "How old are you, kid?"

My fear disappeared and I succumbed to my old disease; I also briefly wondered why everyone I met had some fascination with my age. I stood up, placed my hands on my hips, and replied irately, "Fourteen, and I don't appreciate being called 'Kid' by anyone I don't know. I have a name, it's Ferishteh Rekani, and I would very much like to be called that."

"What's a Kurdish teenager doing sniping in the middle of the desert?" he wondered smoothly, bringing my nervousness back full force. I could feel myself flushing, but I couldn't deduce why. I also found myself analyzing this man; his hair looked like it might've been brown before the color faded away with age, and his showing eye was the brightest blue I had ever seen (brighter than my own showing eye, even). If I were alone, I would start shaking my head rapidly to rid myself of these descriptive thoughts. This man could kill me on the spot if he wanted to, I shouldn't be thinking about his eye.

"It's a long story that doesn't matter," I replied quickly. I could feel him analyzing me, and it made my face turn an even deeper shade of fuchsia.

After a little while, the man asked, "How long have you been out here, kid?"

"Three years, and stop calling me 'kid'!" I shouted. The man just smirked at me, now amused by my outburst. I had to admit, I would be to. I never looked serious when I was yelling.

"Don't laugh at me! How would you like it if I didn't call you by your name?!" I demanded.

"I'm used to it by this point. Call me whatever you want," he replied, but he added on soon after, "Call me 'old man' out of spite and just _see _what happens." I gulped, that idea went down faster than a wounded gazelle. I decided that for however long we're acquainted I might as well call him 'sir' when I talked to him.

"Anyways, you've got a talent for sniping. I can take you to the United States and out of this hellhole, but I won't if you don't want to leave," he said bluntly. My blush dried up and I had to remind myself to breathe; the thought of leaving had never even crossed my mind. It was frightening, to say the least. I had finally found a semi-permanent 'home' where I had lived with my greatest friend for a week and alone for three years, and now I was being offered the chance to leave this desert and go to a strange land where nobody spoke my language.

I still believed that this desert wasn't the greatest place to be, and this man seemed genuine in his intentions. I could learn so much by leaving… I needed a purpose, and I needed to leave the past in the past.

So, I gulped a little and said, "Alright, I'll go with you." And the two of us left the ruins almost immediately; the man said that it was because we'd be traveling on foot for quite a while and we might as well shorten the time by leaving as soon as possible. I suppose he slept at night for more hours than I, prolonging his journey time, but I still didn't know how far we were going, so I couldn't exactly relate.

I took to classifying our days of travel as the amount of time we would spend awake and walking. Our first day lasted until the middle of the night. Neither of us spoke while we walked; I was busy analyzing the desert, wondering if this was the way I had came three years ago, and I had no idea what was going through my 'companion's mind.

That was the one thing about him I could say for certain about him; it was impossible to even guess what was going on in his mind. He was an enigma, while Ganju had displayed his every emotion clearly and explicitly. But I had a feeling that whatever was within this man's mind was not something I wanted to see.

Actually, for the first ten minutes or so of our walking, we did talk. He asked me if I had any hand-to-hand combat experience, and I asked in return if taking down gazelles, chameleons and the occasional hyena with a kukri knife counted. He concluded that it did count and I would be fine if we were ambushed. I wasn't as sure of my abilities as he was, but he told me that a hyena was much worse than an Iraqi soldier.

We conversed again when we stopped walking and hunted down a couple vipers and a chameleon for food. As I dug into the chameleon without even bothering to skin it, the man informed me that he'd be trying to teach me English while we're out here.

"Why?" I wondered. If I were alone, I would've smacked myself on the forehead immediately afterwards; of course I knew _why_!

"Wait- I meant something different there," I sputtered, face-palming as I did, "I meant why do _you_ yourself want to bother with that?"

"Hm, to tell you the truth it's probably because I don't like speaking Kurdish," my eye patched 'companion' replied bluntly. I frowned; I didn't see what was wrong with my language, but I submitted anyways and let him try to teach me. My very first English lesson went slowly and without much to 'scream about' (as Ganju would've put it); I mostly learned about the English alphabet and how strange and different it was from my own. All the odd letter combinations made me dizzy, and I dreamt solely of those letters and sounds as a way of drilling in the lesson.

That night I slept for four hours (it had become my constant), and while my traveling companion slept for another hour, I sat in my sniping position, looking out for any enemies and losing track of time. When he awoke, my eye-patched compatriot and I covered any evidence of our presence and moved swiftly; we couldn't lose necessary time.

As the desert warmed up again and the sun rose over the horizon, we were ambushed by several Iraqi soldiers; right as I pulled my kukri knife out and reminded myself that I could do this, my one-eyed companion had already shot one soldier and stabbed two others. I tried my best to contribute, slicing the throats of a few soldiers, but I was awestruck by the American before me. His skill and precision in this strange fighting style I knew nothing of, his commanding and almost frightening aura on the battlefield, everything about how he fought and 'conquered' was captivating. I felt myself flushing once more.

I knew what I was going to call him now.

A soldier came up behind me and I whipped around to stab him in the gut quicker than he could pull the trigger on his sidearm; how dare he ambush me like that! I was very busy gawking like the possibly lovesick teenager I was at an older man, didn't he see how time consuming that was? Now that was just rude. Several more soldiers came running at me to replace their fallen comrade, so I slashed the throats of half and stabbed the rest. In a few minutes, my American comrade and I had taken out the whole lot of them.

He smirked at me and remarked, "I told you you'd do fine, Ferishteh."

"You can call me 'Kid' now," I replied with a grin, "Because now I know what I'm going to call you."

"What's that?"

"Saladin."

Saladin, or Ṣalāḥ ad-Dīn Yūsuf ibn Ayyūb, was a Kurdish Muslim who became the Sultan of Egypt and Syria. He led Islamic opposition to the Franks and other European Crusaders in the Levant. At the height of his power, he ruled over Egypt, Syria, Mesopotamia, Hejaz, and Yemen. He led the Muslims against the Crusaders and eventually recaptured Palestine from the Kingdom of Jerusalem after his victory in the Battle of Hattin. He is a noble figure among my people, and this man reminded me very much of this brave and chivalrous leader; so much so that I believed that he could be the true Saladin reincarnate.

Saladin and I traveled for nineteen days through the desert. Several times, we found ourselves fighting back to back against Iraqi soldiers, but never for long. Saladin taught me enough English that I was able to speak it semi-fluently with a heavy accent, but he also taught me a little bit about his fighting style. He developed it alongside his mentor, a woman he called The Boss, and said it was called CQC.

"It stands for Close Quarters Combat," he explained on our first lesson.

"That's not a very original name, no offense to you or The Boss's memory," I pointed out. He had told me The Boss was dead, and by the way he talked about her I knew insulting her memory would get me into some deep trouble.

"Heh, it was my idea to call it that. She just humored me and called it CQC all the time because that sounds better," Saladin replied. It still bothered me that I might've offended him if I had said the wrong thing.

You may have vaguely guessed it, but along with my reverence and respect for Saladin, I also fell in love with him. I know, I know, it's stupid to fall in love with a man over twice my age that I might not see again after he takes me to America. I also knew very little about him, besides some vague things about his past and the codenames he's had (Naked Snake was one of them, and most people currently call him Big Boss). But I fell in love with him all the same. I knew full well why, but I still berated myself for such foolish emotional conduct.

When I say that we walked through the desert for nineteen days, I truly mean that that is how long we spent in the desert. It took us another ten days to walk through the irrigated landscape and arrive in Baghdad. It could've taken us less, but we were extremely exhausted from walking two days straight without sleeping or stopping.

As a result, when we came upon the Fiat River (you may know it as the Euphrates) we spent an entire day on its west bank. That day, as I was staring at the brilliant water of the river, I decided I would no longer classify my eyes as sky blue, but instead ocean blue. Sky blue fit better with Saladin's eye than with mine.

Speaking of eyes, mine were almost permanently widened when we reached Baghdad. It had been so long since I had seen civilization, Baghdad to me looked almost like paradise. From what I knew of the current situation in this country, that probably wasn't true for those living here, but I didn't care. Civilized life for me was astounding.

"I mean, even my village back in the highlands before we started running around wasn't as great as this," I had said to Saladin in English as we went through Baghdad, a huge excited grin on my face. Though, that definitely wasn't as clear or as accurate as it looked right there.

After correcting my many mistakes in that sentence, Saladin said almost to himself, "If this place looks great to you, you're going to _love _America." I quirked an eyebrow, there was almost a sarcastic edge to that statement, but I still wasn't sure how to pick up on sarcasm in English.

We made it to the embassy- technically not the American embassy, but the Polish one, since the legitimate American embassy had closed for reasons Saladin didn't explain- and I was ordered to find a way to bathe. I left Saladin while he spoke with a pale man with silver hair and a red bandanna, and I heard that we had gotten back just one day after the war ended. It amazed me how something so large could happen and I had no idea of the details. I suppose it serves me right for living in isolation for three years.

It took me ten minutes at the very least to find somewhere where I could bathe, but it took me even longer to do the actual bathing. Three years worth of dirt and contamination are very hard to scrub off, let me tell you; not being entirely sure on how to work the faucet helps as well. I ended up taking an hour-long, extremely hot bath, and spending part of that hour just sitting there in the (by that point) lukewarm water, pondering my life in a quiet, reflective manner.

_First Ganju, then Saladin. It looks like for my life to change I need to meet a soldier out in the desert, _I thought to myself semi-sarcastically. When I had finished cleaning myself up, I received word that we wouldn't be leaving until tomorrow. For the rest of the day, I wandered around the embassy almost blindly, wondering what America would have in store for me.

_Allah, please don't take me away from Saladin, _I prayed. But I had a sinking feeling that I would not have that prayer answered.


	3. Chapter 3: Wolf Pup

_Well, that last chapter with Big Boss was fun, but now he has to leave the story for bigger and better things. GOODBYE BIG BOSS, WE'LL ALWAYS LOVE YOU!!! … Ahem, anyhow. I hope you enjoy this chapter~! Nothing/Nobody is mine except for Manic Rat and Acid Crab, my own dear creations that have very little bearing upon the story. _

_**-Wolf Pup-**_

If you asked me the directions to FOXHOUND's (FOXHOUND being Saladin's elite special forces unit that he created in the United States) base, I'd have to run them over in my head twice or more to get them right. The route Saladin, the silver haired man that I now knew as Grey Fox, and I took was so convoluted and downright strange that I could swear we went in circles forty-two times. But though the route was long and semi-pointless, we didn't take that long; that's probably because we were going by car. Neither Saladin nor myself wanted to do any more walking for quite a while.

I suppose I don't need to introduce myself any more, so I won't bother. It's only been a few days since we last met. My birthday hasn't rolled around yet, so I'm still the same age; although now I'm cleaner and wearing cleaner clothing. However, my life was going to change, but not in a positive way from my perspective.

FOXHOUND's base, though surrounded for miles and miles with trees and mountains and a few stories high, wasn't that impressive to look at. In fact, it was rather nondescript.

I stared at it as I got out of the jeep we had been traveling in, ocean blue eyes unblinking, and deadpanned, "It's very simple." That was about the only thing that came to mind right then, and I had absolutely no idea what I meant by that. It was in my poor English as well, so if it was written here in the exact same way it sounded then you'd have quite a time deciphering it.

"Exactly. That's what we _want _you to think," Grey Fox said with a smirk, suddenly beside me. I refrained from jumping out of my skin at his sudden appearance; Grey Fox was faster than any human being I had ever met and he seemed to like appearing beside me whenever it pleased him just to watch me jump. I stared at him with wide eyes, not entirely sure what to make of what he just said.

Grey Fox's smirk fell and he sighed, "Actually, it's really just that simple. But hey, at least it's home." I blinked slowly when he said the word home. This place was so much different from the ruins and the place I vaguely remembered as my village back in the highlands of Iraq, I wondered if I'd ever be able to call it home.

My attention was brought away from Grey Fox and FOXHOUND's base when Saladin called to me from the other side of the Jeep. With a sinking feeling in my stomach, I walked around the jeep and stood in front of Saladin, looking up at his one blue eye (bluer than the sky, than the Euphrates). I liked to think of the customary butterflies in my stomach that I got when I looked at him rather as jackals; I don't really fancy bugs, and I rather liked the idea of a pack of jackals running around in my stomach. My jackals wagged their tails, paced around and barked a few times before my dread quieted them.

"… Yes, Saladin?" I asked, my voice a hoarse whisper. My throat felt like it hadn't seen water in several weeks.

"You're going to stay with FOXHOUND from now on, Kid. You'll learn everything you need to know here, everything I can't teach you," Saladin informed me in Kurdish. I was well aware of this fact, so I stayed quiet.

"We're probably not going to see each other for a long, long time, so this is goodbye," Saladin continued. I gulped, now my throat felt about as sore as my arms did when I had pulled the trigger for the first time; along with that, it felt like a hole was being painstakingly carved in my chest with a rusty kukri knife, preparing to cut out my heart.

"Goodbye, Saladin," I murmured, closing my eyes and hanging my head. He ruffled my hair affectionately and I had to fight back some tears; I didn't look up or even move as I heard him get in the Jeep once more, say his goodbyes to Grey Fox, then drive away.

Whoever was carving the hole in my chest finished and pulled out my heart; when I couldn't hear the Jeep anymore, I looked up and saw my jackals running down the 'road' (you could barely call it a road, it was more like a wide dirt path) after Saladin, barking loudly to get Saladin's attention.

The smallest of the pack held my heart in its mouth and I was almost tempted to follow after them to get my heart back before I realized that my jackals only existed in my mind and 'stomach'.

_Oh, Mother, you were wrong. Just losing someone you cared about hurts so much more than killing a person, _I thought, swallowing the lump in my throat. I realized right then that my hand that wasn't holding my rifle was outstretched in the direction Saladin had gone, so I carefully brought it back to me and hugged the rifle tightly to my chest as a child would a doll.

"… You alright?" Grey Fox asked me, concern in his voice as he actually walked at a pace I could measure up to me. I took a few deep breaths to calm my nerves before hesitantly saying in my poor English that I was fine. Grey Fox knew I was lying through my teeth, but he didn't say a word about it and lead me into FOXHOUND's base. My feet felt like boulders, even though I wasn't exhausted and my legs were spindly no longer.

The inside of the base was about as spectacular as the outside, though I was surprised to find that it went several stories below ground as well. I had never heard of a building that went below ground, and in a less emotionally muddled state I'd be much more keen to explore these lower levels.

Grey Fox told me that we were the only ones here right now, since the rest of FOXHOUND was on a mission in eastern Europe and wouldn't be back for three days, so I could take the quarters of a woman he called 'Manic Rat' for that time. I found her room semi-easily; I may have had to wander for ten minutes or so, but the words 'MANIC RAT IS AWESOME' were painted in large red letters on the door. On the next door over, 'ACID CRAB IS WAY COOLER THAN RAT' was painted in blue.

I had to wonder just what kind of people made up FOXHOUND.

I made a mental note of how to get here for later before aimlessly wandering some more until I found myself in front of a door labeled 'ARMORY'. I vaguely knew what that was, so I went inside to find the largest cache of weapons I'd probably ever see. I almost dropped my rifle, I was so astounded. Timidly I walked around the armory, staring at all the guns and ammunition with wide, reverent eyes. I recognized a gun as the same one that Saladin used in CQC, and my chest ached for a second or two.

But my attention was brought away from that to the most beautiful gun I had ever seen in my life. It was a sniper rifle with an actual scope and a tripod attachment on it, with a mostly black body and a wooden-looking handle; I brushed my fingers over its cool surface, my eyes wider than ever before. This gun was astounding, much more magnificent and refined than my rifle.

"No offense," I murmured to my gun with an apologetic smile. I carefully took the rifle from it's place; not only was it almost my height, but it weighed a good fraction of what I did and I staggered a little bit when I held it. Written on it was 'Heckler & Koch PSG-1', and I assumed that this must be what the gun was called. I had no idea what my rifle was called. I had the sudden urge to try this rifle out, so I found some ammo for it, deposited my rifle in Manic Rat's room and rushed to the roof.

I stayed up there for hours, sniping wildlife I saw in the forest that looked troublesome. The PSG-1 was amazing to shoot as well, my accuracy was improved tenfold with the scope. I had gotten used to kick, so this rifle's particular kick didn't really hinder me too much. This would probably be one of my happiest nights up here, but not because of my new gun.

It would be when I discovered one of the most beautiful creatures in the world. I had just downed an White-Tailed Deer (a male, since I never shot females because they might just have children to think of) and was about ready to look for another target, when much to my surprise a wolf loped into my sights. I held back a gasp; jackals would always hold a dear place in my heart, but the wolf was just breathtaking. It sniffed my kill hesitantly, unsure if it should eat what it didn't kill, before deciding food was food and digging in. I couldn't move the scope away, and I didn't until the wolf moved on.

The next day, my emotional state was better, but my chest still hurt in a dull, throbbing manner. But that was the least of my problems. As I wandered around the base, I found myself looking over my shoulder constantly; I felt like there was a little pair of eyes watching me obsessively and I couldn't find them. The fifth time I looked over my shoulder, I narrowed my eyes and swore that I would find whoever was stalking me.

It took me quite a bit of waiting as an attempt to lure them into a false sense of security, but I was good at waiting. In fact, I waited for several hours until I heard a small squeak and the light 'thump' of a body hitting the floor; my stalker had tripped. I turned quickly on the heels of my feet, getting into a CQC stance and readying myself to pull out my kukri knife if necessary…

It wasn't necessary. I was face to face with a twelve-year-old girl with chocolate brown hair and eyes to match. She stumbled back to her feet and stared at me with a semi-frightened expression. I had no idea why a girl not that much younger than me would have to be afraid, but I made up my mind soon that she was probably just shy.

"Uhrm… Hello. I am called Ferishteh Rekani. I am sorry if I frightened you or something along those lines, miss," I said politely, trying to make my English as clear as possible. She mumbled incoherently under her breath, still not that confident in talking to me like a normal human being. Right then, Grey Fox rounded the corner and smiled down at the girl warmly. She noticed him and lost a little of her nervousness.

"Naomi, you don't have to be so shy around Ferishteh. I swear, you've got to cure yourself of this shyness thing," Grey Fox remarked with a chuckle, ruffling 'Naomi's hair. I raised an eyebrow; just what connected Grey Fox and this girl anyways?

"B-but, Frankie, sh-she-" Naomi stammered before Grey Fox cut in jokingly, "Come on, Naomi, I promise you she won't bite."

Naomi looked at the floor and wrung her hands a few times before mumbling, "I'm N-Naomi Jaeger. F-Frankie's my big brother- well, t-technically anyways." My eyes widened; brother and sister?! Grey Fox and Naomi looked nothing alike, and even if they were brother and sister, the age difference alone was staggering. But Naomi said 'technically', so they probably weren't related.

"So, uhrm, w-where are you from? I n-noticed you had an a-accent, but if I'm b-being rude then you d-don't have to answer," Naomi asked, her face flushing from her nervousness.

"Oh, well, I am from Iraq. But I have not been speaking Arabic, since I am Kurdish," I began, smiling warmly to try and reassure Naomi.

Naomi perked up at my latest statement and cut in energetically, "R-really? I'm kind of l-like that too! I c-come from Rhodesia, but I'm definitely not R-Rhodesian and I g-grew up sp-peaking English before Frankie." I learned that Naomi's parents had been killed during the Rhodesian Bush War and that Grey Fox had taken her in, raising her as his little sister. I gained a new respect for Grey Fox, now that I knew how kind he could be.

I mentally gave Naomi the nickname Fox Pup, so that she'd be even better connected to Grey Fox in my memory.

Naomi followed me around the rest of the day, though not at a distance any more, asking me all kinds of questions about Iraq and Kurdish people. I learned through that that Fox Pup was quite an intelligent girl indeed; she was already considering what kind of career to have later in the future.

"I want to learn about genetics, so that I can figure out who I am and where I came from," Naomi explained.

"But you seem to have a fondness for seeing the world. Being a scientist would keep you locked up in a lab," I commented.

"Well, I've seen s-some places, but that's o-only when I can go on not-very-dangerous missions with Frankie and Big Boss. Most of the t-time I'm stuck here a-alone. M-maybe when I'm a s-scientist I'll get to go places to learn things a-about science," Naomi said hopefully. I smiled; I truly hoped that Naomi would see the world as well.

The third day wasn't very exciting as a whole. Naomi watched as I sniped a few things, but she started crying around the third creature I killed; both Grey Fox and I had to comfort her for a whole hour. The rest of the day, I observed as Naomi spent as much time as possible with her 'brother'.

I could tell that it meant the world to Fox Pup whenever Grey Fox was home and she had him all to herself. For some reason as I thought of this, Saladin's blue eye and the howls of my jackals wormed their way into my mind and my chest started to hurt worse than ever before. I banished those thoughts before I burst into tears on the spot.

At around eleven o'clock, when Naomi was asleep while Grey Fox and I were awake on the roof, FOXHOUND returned in several crowded Jeeps. I raised an eyebrow at this sight while Grey Fox grinned excitedly; the rabble I saw through the scope of my rifle was an odd one. Could they even possibly be a Special Forces unit?

As the motion-sensing lights on the FOXHOUND base turned on and the Jeeps all stopped, I asked, "Is that FOXHOUND?"

"Yep! They're back," Grey Fox replied, jumping off the roof and landing perfectly unharmed at the base of the building. Sometimes it scared me how durable Grey Fox was in addition to being fast.

I decided that I might as well meet FOXHOUND too, so I made my way down there just in time to see the members of FOXHOUND getting out of their Jeep.

The first one I saw ran too fast into the forests for me to actually process who they might be, so I gave up on analyzing that member of FOXHOUND.

The second one I noticed made me tense up; he was a man on the taller side that looked Iraqi. He wore a military-ish uniform with the jacket part unbuttoned so that the world could see grievous chemical burns on his chest and the bandages around his lower torso (they matched the ones around his forehead that were almost obscured by his unkempt black hair). I could fear the man no longer as I tried to hold down my urge to throw up while I looked at his chemical burns.

I couldn't notice the others just yet, for Grey Fox was introducing me to this Iraqi man.

"So, Ferishteh, this is Acid Crab. You may have seen his room next to Rat's…" Grey Fox began. The grin I had seen on Crab's face ever since I noticed him fell as he heard my name; he probably had his suspicions about my race, and I wasn't about to lie about it.

We stared at each other for several minutes before he asked, "You're Kurdish, right?"

"Yes, I am," I replied simply, trying to look at his eyes instead of his burns.

"… I apologize on behalf of my entire race for trying to kill the crap out of your people," Crab said with a sheepish grin.

I smiled and said, "No, it is fine. I understand that not all people from Iraq are like the soldiers that were constantly trying to kill me. I have none of the hard feelings."

Crab grinned whole-heartedly now before extending his hand for me to shake and commenting, "I never really bought into all that crap about not telling anyone our real names, so I'm Altair al-Asim." I knew that he was condensing his name down quite a bit, but I said nothing about that.

I shook his hand and replied, "And I am Ferishteh Rekani. It's a pleasure to meet you." Crab nodded once in acknowledgement before turning back to Grey Fox and asking him about how Naomi was doing; right then, I had the feeling I was being watched once more.

I looked over my shoulder and had to stifle a gasp. A young woman was clinging to the wall, her entire torso almost completely pressed to it, and staring intently at Grey Fox's back. She was blonde with dark eyes and a skin tone somewhere between olive and tan, her long hair braided so tightly it looked like her braid could be used as a whip.

Strapped to her upper arms were several daggers, similar knives also attached to the belt around her middle; she wore a black, latex bodysuit underneath a white hooded tunic that had the insignia of FOXHOUND (a fox with a knife in its mouth and FOXHOUND written above it) emblazoned on the back and on the sleeves of the suit. I noticed that she was hardly even breathing, and frankly, that freaked me out.

Suddenly the young woman pounced from the wall and tackled Grey Fox at a speed that would knock over any normal human being (though it just made Grey Fox wobble a bit before regaining his footing).

"Foox~! I missed you a crapload~!" she exclaimed giddily. Grey Fox was stunned for a second before he grinned and wrapped his arms around her backwards while she wrapped her legs around his middle.

"I missed you too, Rat. How was Estonia?" Grey Fox asked with a warm smile.

"It was cool, the mission went alright," 'Rat' answered before she noticed me out of the corner of her eye.

"Hey, Fox, who's the kid?" she asked.

"Oh, damn, forgot introductions again. Ferishteh, this is Manic Rat. You've been sleeping in her room for the past three days," Grey Fox stated as Rat dropped from his back. Rat immediately dipped down the foot that made up our height difference and stared at me with her dark, semi-inquisitive eyes.

"You didn't mess with my stuff, didja?" Rat asked.

"No," I said quietly. It frightened me to think of what she would do if I did 'mess with her stuff'.

"Good! We'll get along great then, Ferishteh! You know who I am, but I guess I'll tell ya that my real name is Stephania Auroraios," Rat chirped, standing up to her full height once again and grinning a huge grin.

"You can keep staying in my room with me if you want," Rat added.

"Yes, you'd _love _that wouldn't you Rat~?" Crab trilled with a mischievous smirk.

Rat roundhouse kicked Crab in the jaw and snapped, "I'm not a fucking lesbian! Shut the fuck up ya perv!"

I smiled a bit; if these were the kinds people who made up FOXHOUND, then I was a little apprehensive about living here full time.


	4. Chapter 4: Running Assassin

_Hi there I'm here again! Updates might be a little slow for a while on this and, well, everything. My laptop crapped out on me, so I'm using a shared computer. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this one. I own nothing except for 1991 FOXHOUND minus Grey Fox._

_**-Running Assassin-**_

FOXHOUND did not have a sniper when I was living with them. I did learn more about CQC from Grey Fox and several miscellaneous skills from the others, but any sniping experience I got was from being on the field. Yes, I was brought along on missions, but only when a sniper was necessary, when it wasn't a very dangerous mission, or when Manic Rat just wanted me around. So, logically, when the missions weren't as dangerous I got to bring Naomi with me. I was also given an unofficial codename of Jackal, a codename I decided myself.

My first mission was a very dangerous one in Moscow, Russia. I didn't know the specifics because I didn't really care; what I did know was that we were taking out an uppity faction of the Russian Mafia that reportedly had nuclear weaponry in their arsenal. I was to wait for their boss, Nikolai Bogdanovich, so that I could take him out while he escaped the chaos. I was glad to be so integral to the plan, but nervous as well. There were only so many things that could go right.

But my main source of nerves came from sitting in between Volatile Jaguar and Black-Arts Falcon on the plane to Russia.

Black-Arts Falcon was from North Korea, kept his dark hair pretty long and was absolutely covered in blue tattoos. I didn't know what his specialty was, but I knew that he was tricky and devious man that absolutely _loved _baiting the tempers of everyone around him.

Nobody was better for this than Volatile Jaguar, a man from the former East Germany with severe burns on half of his face and forearms. His specialty was explosives, but I could be wrong since I gained this knowledge from seeing him stuff a remote-controlled grenade down the throat of a recruit that looked at him the wrong way and detonating it.

Jaguar's temper was like the bombs he worked with; you had to work carefully around it unless you wanted to be blown to smithereens. Looking at him the wrong way would get you roughed up at best, while mentioning anything about his burns would get you killed in five seconds. So, naturally, that was what Falcon talked about when bored.

We were flying over England when Falcon got bored. I sat there, silent as the grave, while Falcon frowned and muttered, "This is taking forever…"

A devious grin stretched across Falcon's face, distorting the azure tattoos, before he said in an unusually loud tone, "Hey Jaguar~! How's the air pressure treating the burns?"

Jaguar had been asleep, but that woke him right up; the blonde man's eyes shot open before he glared over me and straight at Falcon. I gripped the PSG-1 tightly to me, fearing for my life.

"Fuckin' shut up ya goddamn bastard or I'll send you crashin' outta this plane and down onto the goddamn Brits!!" Jaguar growled, baring his teeth like the predatory animal he was named for. I shrunk back against my seat, wondering why I had gotten stuck next to these two instead of the others.

"Oh really? You'd only throw me out of a plane? Why lose the opportunity to blow one up and get even worse burns than before?" Falcon wondered tauntingly, his grin growing even larger.

"Shut the FUCK up or I will!!" Jaguar shouted, leaning across me to get in Falcon's face. Falcon leapt from his seat and into the very large aisle before turning to Jaguar and getting into a CQC stance.

"Let's settle this in a much more _fair _way, Jaguar!" Falcon called with an almost psychotic grin. Jaguar let out a roar and leapt at Falcon, Falcon meeting him halfway with a swift punch to the gut. Jaguar recovered quickly and slammed Falcon's face into the floor. I watched with wide eyes, wondering how this team got anything done with them on it.

The two of them fought for Allah knows how long, Jaguar out to kill Falcon and Falcon having the time of his life fighting his comrade. They were _still _fighting by the time we got to Moscow, Grey Fox and Rat pulling them apart when we got there.

"How do you people get anything done with them on the team?" I asked Crab under my breath so that Jaguar and Falcon wouldn't hear and consequently kill me.

"Huh, that is a question for the ages," Crab replied, folding his arms behind his head, "I mean, we've also got Rat on our team as well and Allah knows how useful _she _is-"

Crab was cut off as Rat kicked him in the jaw again.

"Goddammit Crab!!" Rat shouted before muttering something under her breath and slinking back beside Grey Fox.

"No, I don't know how we get anything done either," Grey Fox mentioned to me before we left for the mission. In mere minutes I was atop a cathedral's tall, semi-domed spire and looking through the sight of the PSG-1, ready to shoot when ordered. I watched through my scope as Rat climbed up the side of the mob's building at a pace a tortoise would call slow; I knew it was probably part of her method, but it was taking forever and that agitated me.

I watched her climb for several more minutes before Crab remarked over our frequency, "_Damn _Rat, could you _be _any slower?"

Rat did not retaliate with words. Instead, she broke the nearest window and swooped inside, slitting the throat of the first Russian dashing over to see what the commotion was.

"I guess that's our signal to go," Falcon said, a mischievous lilt on his voice. And all hell broke loose before I could even blink. Through one window I could see Rat throwing daggers and acrobatically kicking mobsters to the ground while through another I saw Crab utterly decimating everyone in his path with what looked like acid.

I studied Crab a little closer as he managed to get a stream of acid down an enemy's throat and shuddered; his normally fun grin had gained a sadistic, frightening edge and his eyes had gained a frighteningly cold glint to them.

"Crab, remember to find the nuclear weapons!" I could hear Grey Fox snap through the radio frequency. Crab payed very little attention to that command, continuing his killing spree unimpeded.

"Damn, he's too far gone to listen to me isn't he?" Grey Fox muttered.

"Looks like it," Falcon agreed.

"I'll find the nukes instead," Jaguar grumbled. I could see Jaguar frowning as he blew up a mafia member before running down the hallway to do Crab's job. Thinking of Jaguar, I decided to figure out what Falcon does and looked for him.

I saw him baiting several enemies, leading them up onto the roof and possibly into a trap. When they reached the roof, I wondered what trap Falcon had set… But I gasped when I saw it; with a weird sound that was similar to paper ripping, Falcon's tattoos came off of his skin and reformed themselves into the shape of a large bird of prey right above Falcon's head. The tattoo creature let out an otherworldly screech before it attacked the mafia men, ripping them apart with its azure beak.

_So, that's why he's called 'Black-Arts' Falcon… _I thought before a bullet tore past me and hit the spire of the dome.

I cursed out loud before swooping around to the other side of the precarious dome and whispering harshly into my earpiece, "Someone just shot at me!"

"Shit, I had a feeling they'd have their own sniper. Jackal, taking out the other sniper is first priority until Bogdanovich shows up," Grey Fox ordered.

"Right," I said before turning off my earpiece and looking just a little bit out from my hiding place, raising the scope to my eye so that I could find my opponent. He was on the roof of the opposite building but hadn't caught a glimpse of me yet. I held my breath and waited for ten minutes, trying to get him perfectly in my crosshairs without giving my position away. I pulled the trigger just as he noticed the sun glinting off of the PSG-1's sight.

"I took out the enemy sniper," I reported.

"Good job, Jackal," Grey Fox said before asking, "Jaguar, did you confirm the nukes?"

"Hell yeah I did! This place is fucking full of them!" Jaguar exclaimed, an edge of happiness to his voice.

I returned my attention to the front of the building just in time; a black limousine had just pulled up and Bogdanovich was running from the building like it was on fire. I had a feeling that Crab wasn't far behind him.

I closed the eye hidden behind my hair, bit my tongue and pulled the trigger right as Bogdanovich ran into my crosshairs. The mafia leader's blood and brains sprayed out the left side of his head, Bogdanovich falling forwards and smashing his forehead on the limousine before falling to the ground. I took out the drivers of the limousine as well, just to be safe.

"Nuclear weapons confirmed and apprehended, Bogdonavich and associates dead, looks like Mission Accomplished to me," Rat chirped over the radio. I made my way back into the cathedral and snuck out into the alley between it and the mafia's headquarters; I was just in time to see Falcon jump from the roof (using his tattoos to slow his decent so that he would hit the ground safely) and Rat jump from a lower window to be caught by Grey Fox leaving the building the normal way behind Crab (looking _very _angry) with Jaguar on his heels (nuclear weapons in a sack over his shoulder).

I met the bulk of FOXHOUND right in front of the entrance to the mafia's base, though Crab was seething in front of Bogdanovich's corpse.

"Nice shot," Falcon commented with a smirk as the last of his tattoos went back to its rightful place. I thanked him before looking over at Grey Fox and Rat (who Grey Fox had forgotten to put down, making Rat turn a nice shade of pink when she realized this fact).

"Damn… Looks like we've got to bring him to his senses," Rat muttered, dropping out of Grey Fox's arms and landing gently on her feet.

She then turned to Crab and called in a rather gentle tone, "C'mon Crab, it's over! Snap out of it already!" Crab glared over his shoulder at her, looking about ready to murder her right there on the spot, along with everyone else in the area. Grey Fox narrowed his eyes before walking briskly up to Crab, forcefully turning him by the shoulder and punching him hard in the face. I let out a gasp and hugged the PSG-1 tightly to me, but nobody else had such a reaction (though Falcon and Rat did wince).

I could see Crab's eyes go back to normal as they widened from the shock of Grey Fox's powerful blow. He grimaced as he straightened up while Grey Fox continued to glare at him.

"Damn it, Crab, you can't keep going apeshit like this," Grey Fox snapped, frustration and a little disappointment clear in his voice. Crab looked at the ground and said nothing. It was possible that he was too ashamed to speak right now. The recruits would be sent out to clean up the area later, so we left for the trip back.

On said trip, I was between Rat and Crab instead of Falcon and Jaguar this time, so it was much less tense. I took that time to ask a few questions, such as what happened with Crab's demeanor during the mission.

"Before I got my chemical burns, I was like that all the time," Crab explained, staring at his lap instead of looking at me, "I go back to that persona whenever I fight. It's involuntary, but I'm trying to work on it."

I smiled at him and said calmly, "I think you'll be able to overcome it."

Crab grinned at me and said, "Thanks, Ferishteh. You're a good kid."

"Stranger danger!" Rat trilled with a laugh.

"Hey! That is _my _territory! _I _am the baiter here!" Crab joked, trying to keep from laughing himself.

He then grinned slyly and wondered, "And who knows how much older Grey Fox is than you, miss 'Nineteen-Years-Of-Age'?" My eyes widened as Rat blushed and punched Crab in the jaw.

"You and Grey Fox are-" I began before Crab cut me off.

"She wishes. Rat's only got a crush larger than 'Mother Russia' on Grey Fox-" Crab in turn was cut off by another punch to the jaw from Rat. Was it just me, or was Crab getting punched quite a bit today? Rat looked away from me and Crab, her face bright red.

"I get what you're feeling, Rat," I offered with a semi-sheepish smile.

"Yeah, Fox told me about your crush on Big Boss," Rat mumbled. I resisted the urge to follow her example and punch her in the jaw; I don't think I could have, since my chest started to ache once more.

I lived with FOXHOUND for two years, the bulk of those years being relatively happy. I learned very much about FOXHOUND; for example, I learned that the real names of Falcon and Jaguar were Haneul Jeong and Felix Wagner (respectively) and that Rat was Greek-American. I met a few more members of FOXHOUND (Amur Tiger, Archer Bison and Ghost Turtle to be specific) too, and the unit became like a family to me.

But deep down in my heart I knew staying would be a horrible idea. I was constantly reminded of Saladin, which hurt enough on its own. But every now and again he would be here and I would _just _miss him, either by being on a mission or not receiving word while being somewhere else; that hurt worse than a shot to the chest, and after two years I decided I would never get hurt like that again.

I decided to leave FOXHOUND and make my own start as an assassin. Sure, I was only sixteen, but Rat had started out younger than me. In fact, I got advice on how to start out from her without tipping her off to my plan the night I left.

"Well, I went out to Chicago- that's in Illinois, a few states over from here- and dropped in on some mafia guys from the Chicago Outfit negotiating a hit on someone causing trouble for them. I told them I could do it for them, and when they didn't believe me I showed off my mad skills on a nearby spook," Rat explained, brushing out her hair as she let it down from her braid, "So, they gave me the job, and after my huge success they called on me for any time they needed an outside hit. Why'd ya ask?"

"I was just curious, since you told me you were fourteen when you got your start as an assassin," I lied, trying to fight down all the 'tells' I knew I had after examining myself lying in the mirror for a few hours; I wanted to be able to lie undetectably, just in case I needed to in the future.

This lie satiated Rat, and when she was asleep I quietly made my way out of our room. I brought ammunition for the PSG-1, some of my clothing, the keys to the one non-Jeep FOXHOUND owned, my wallet with several hundred dollars my false drivers license I had gotten on my sixteenth birthday inside, and my old rifle. I sure as Hell wasn't going to leave it behind; it was my very first gun! I moved through the dark halls of the FOXHOUND base with the stealth that Rat had taught me, but I was discovered right as I was about to leave.

I had been just about to open the door when I felt a familiar pair of eyes on my back. I turned slowly around to see Naomi- fourteen and lacking a stutter now except for when she was nervous- standing there, staring at me with sad looking brown eyes. She looked less like a fox pup and more like a kicked domestic puppy; she knew I was leaving.

"… Naomi, it's late. You should get back to sleep," I murmured softly, not wanting to bring up the subject of my leaving. My English had gotten much better, now leaving me with an attractive-sounding accent I felt like keeping.

"D-do you really have to go, F-Ferishteh?" Naomi asked, moving forward a few paces.

I looked down at my feet and said, "I suppose I don't _have _to, but-"

"Then please don't go!" Naomi exclaimed, closing the distance between us to give me a pleading gaze. I bit my lip, trying hard to resist her.

"I'm sorry, Naomi. But… I loved Sa- Big Boss, and I can't keep living with the reminder of his presence," I said before smiling sadly, "I'll see you in the news when you find the cure for cancer, Fox Pup. Goodbye." I ruffled her hair affectionately before turning away from her and walking out the door. I kept my composure as I unlocked the car, started it up and drove a mile or so down the dirt road. I was an alright driver, nothing to scream about though.

I pulled over a mile or two down the road so that I could cry. I wasn't just crying because of how heart-broken Naomi had looked, but also because of how I missed Saladin and Ganju, and just because I needed to cry. When my tears stopped, I sat up straight and took a few deep, shaky breaths to regain my composure.

"Alright, Ferishteh, there's no going back. Let's get ourselves to Illinois," I murmured before maneuvering myself back onto the dirt road. I drove and drove without looking in the rearview mirror until I got to the paved road, and I was determined never to look in that mirror towards FOXHOUND again.


	5. Chapter 5: Sniper Wolf

_Well, I'm here again! If I'm right, this one's gonna be short/long/medium. So buckle your seatbelts everybody, we're in for a not-so-wild ride~! _

I didn't expect Rat's plan to work for me, but it did; in fact, it worked surprisingly well. Within my first few days of living in Chicago I had killed a corrupt businessman and scored a deal with the Outfit, along with enough money to pay for a room at a modest hotel (since I couldn't get myself an apartment at sixteen). The Outfit called for my 'services' surprisingly often, and often enough that I lost many hours of sleep on these targets.

I remember, the human need to sleep almost botched up one of my earliest missions. Because of the circumstances, I had to wait for forty-eight hours before I could kill the target. Around midnight on the first day of waiting, I had started to nod off. My desire to sleep for at least forty-five minutes was so strong that I had to place my Kukri knife in the interior of my elbow so the pain would keep me awake.

The assassination itself went smoothly, but after bandaging my self-inflicted wound, I knew that I had a problem on my hands. I paced the floor of my hotel room, a hand to my chin as I pondered my options when it came to sleep. I couldn't just stop without any kind of outside influence, for I knew that would come back to haunt me at an inopportune time.

"Think, Ferishteh, there has to be _some _way to go about this…" I murmured. I wracked my brain for hours to figure out _some _to eliminate sleep from this equation…

That's when I remembered a day when I was fifteen. I had been bored, so I had accompanied Naomi as she assisted Dr. Clarke; Dr. Clarke was the woman in charge of all medical and scientific affairs for FOXHOUND, so every now and again Naomi would do menial tasks for her. That day, Naomi had been taking inventory of every pharmaceutical drug in Dr. Clarke's lab. I had looked around the shelves of medicine with a disinterested look before two in particular caught my eye.

"Diazepam and Pentazemin? What do those do?" I wondered, cocking my head to the side in puzzlement.

Naomi blinked a couple times to get her thoughts together before explaining, "Well, both diazepam and pentazemin work as tranquilizers along with removing anxiety and relaxing muscles. I'm not too sure though…"

I smirked as I halted the memory. That would work; if I ever saw Naomi again I would thank her obsessively for her basic knowledge of those drugs. Within the next few days, I had gotten a fake prescription for diazepam and pentazemin- that was thanks to the Outfit's best counterfeiter- and enough of each to last me several months.

The next assassination I was given went even smoother than before; the drugs actually heightened my awareness and precision, keeping me awake for the two days I waited as well. I knew I was going to stick with them, even though they left me completely unable to sleep even when I wanted to.

Around my seventeenth birthday, the Outfit loaned me out in a figurative sense to a mercenary group they had connections with. They were headed into Central Africa to fight in a civil war I knew very little about. All I knew was that my main job was to wait just outside the enemy camp for three weeks before assassinating their leader. I did not think very highly of these mercenaries, even though we were similar in being hired guns, but I kept that to myself.

I had already seen war from an outside perspective during my time with FOXHOUND and had figured that it was a horrible thing, so I was glad to just be near a camp instead of right in the middle of the figurative maelstrom. When we arrived in the African nation, I stealthily made my way across the battlefield and into the forest surrounding the enemy settlement. Using only my eyes as a judge, I looked for the tallest tree in the forest; when I found it, I climbed almost to the top but not all the way, for if I were at the top it would be easy to spot me.

When I reached my perch, I found that I was close enough to hear the enemy speaking. Not that it mattered, since I didn't speak their language. I had been shown a picture of their leader, so I was constantly on the lookout for him. He showed up around the end of that day, but I stuck to my instructions. I was not to shoot until the three weeks had passed, so I observed.

I waited for those twenty-one days without eating, drinking or moving a muscle. This observation was probably the most boring thing in the world; so, to pass the time I got to know my target. I learned that he was brave, somewhat arrogant, and truly cared about his men. I learned several of his allergies, a little bit about his life off the battlefield, and all of this without understanding a single word he said. All of these things I admired and empathized with.

I suppose the small crush I gained on this man was yet another attempt to pass the time, or possibly another way to put Saladin behind me. Maybe it didn't mean anything at all; that was further reinforced when I didn't hesitate to kill him when the day rolled around. At that moment he had become the enemy once more, everything I may or may not have felt for him left in the dust.

We were victorious in Africa, or at least those employing us were; the victory felt a little hollow, but I suppose that's what being a soldier of fortune was all about. From then on, I found that whenever the waiting went on for longer than a few days, I would gain superficial and temporary feelings for my targets that went away with the pull of a trigger.

My life continued this way without change. I had to admit, being a professional assassin and a hired gun was not the most exciting thing in the world. I began to miss FOXHOUND at times, but I would always shake this off. I couldn't go back and wouldn't go back, not now not ever.

I was going to be proved wrong around the end of 1994; December 28, 1994 to be precise. At eighteen I had realized that I could get a lot of what I want by showing off my cleavage, so I took to wearing clothes that did just this; along with being mistaken for a hooker quite often, another disadvantage to this strategy was that on snowy days such as this one I would be freezing if I was without a jacket.

I sat in a coffee shop on that day, rather nonplussed by the weather and my own common sense. I wasn't even wearing something that exposed my cleavage, but my sweater was rather thin so it did a crappy job of keeping me warm.

"What I would give to be back in the desert right now," I grumbled, pulling my hair into a ponytail before taking a sip of my coffee. Keeping my hair up had become a habit by this point and would remain my habit for a few more years; somehow my bangs stayed just the way they were, keeping one of my eyes obscured at all times.

I stared blankly into space after taking that sip, rather bored. Right as I was wondering when the snow would let up, my vision sharpened from the unfocused blank stare as I noticed something. Well, more like someone; coming through the door of the coffee shop was none other than Manic Rat in all her strange 'glory'. She looked exactly the same as she did last time I saw her, though she was wearing street clothes this time.

Rat noticed me from the corner of her eye as well, and after a few seconds she made her way over to my table, sat across from me (using a stolen chair), and beamed wider than I've ever seen a person smile at me. I smiled as well; though FOXHOUND was in my past I was glad to see Rat anyways.

"Hey there Ferishteh. Looks like my hunch was right and you used my advice to your advantage," Rat said with a wink.

"It worked much better than I thought it would," I remarked with a smirk.

"So, you're eighteen now! How've you been?" Rat asked. I was amazed at how _normal _this conversation was sounding, but Rat was stealthy in more ways than one, so I really shouldn't have been.

"I've been alright. I have gotten much better in my… 'field'," I replied before taking another sip of my coffee, "How about you?"

"I've been doing good. We all have been," Rat replied before blushing and snapping, "And _no_, I have not gotten anywhere with Fox." I laughed a little bit and so did Rat; though we weren't talking as much as we used to, it already felt like old times to me.

"So… How's-"

"Naomi? I had a feeling you'd ask," Rat said with a smirk, "She's doing well. Her stutter's all the way gone, and she's in a prime position already to succeed Dr. Clarke. You'd be proud of her."

"I am already," I murmured with a warm smile. There wasn't a time that I wasn't proud of Fox Pup.

"… Well, now that the pleasantries are out of the way, I'll get down to brass tacks," Rat proclaimed with a grin, "I'll be straight with ya: FOXHOUND wants you back."

My eyes widened; I had a feeling that something was going on, since Rat was in Chicago randomly and didn't seem too surprised to see me, but not this.

"I- I left for a reason, Rat. I don't think I could go back-" I began, before I was cut off by the one person I least expected.

"Kid, being a hired gun isn't as good as FOXHOUND. You know that. You've gotten a helluva lot better at shooting, too. Since Falcon was killed in action and Jaguar disappeared, we haven't found a good replacement. You know FOXHOUND, so who better than you?" Saladin wondered with a smirk, walking up and standing beside Rat's chair, "That, and you stole our car. We want it back."

I barely heard Rat as she muttered that Saladin was supposed to be a 'surprise'. I was too busy staring into Saladin's one eye; the pack of jackals returned to their place in my stomach, now much larger than before and more active. I had to suppress the urge to jump on Saladin and start kissing him, so let me tell you that that is not an easy task.

"Yeah, Big Boss's commanding FOXHOUND again. He and I came looking for you together," Rat explained.

I bit my lip before smiling and saying quietly, "I'll come back to FOXHOUND."

Rat's eyebrows went flat as she deadpanned, "Something tells me that if Big Boss had just showed up and said 'Come Back' you would've said yes in five seconds." Saladin chuckled while I just blushed and smiled a little wider; the smallest of the pack (now the largest) had replaced my heart, and I could hardly remember what the ache felt like.

For security's sake- and because the car I stole had to be returned- I drove back to FOXHOUND's base alone. I probably broke a few speed limits in Ohio and Indiana, seeing as I was so anxious to go back to FOXHOUND, but in Pennsylvania I had to stop. I had been driving through a wooded area, thinking about how I wanted to see everyone again and wondering how Falcon had died, when I hit something.

I stopped immediately, getting out of my car to see what (possibly who) I hit; I gasped and mentally started to berate myself when I saw I had hit an adult grey wolf. He was alive, though injured. I bit my lip before retrieving my first-aid kit from the glove box and approaching the wolf cautiously.

He started growling as I approached him, so I remembered my encounter with the jackal years ago and murmured soothingly in Kurdish, "Ssshhh, it's alright. I'm not going to hurt you. I'm sorry I hit you, please let me help." I have a feeling that all canines understand Kurdish, because the wolf stopped growling at me when I said that and let me approach him; although, he did keep glaring at me warily. It was the same way with the jackal.

I examined his injuries carefully, trying not to hurt him too much as I did. When I determined that I could be able to handle it all myself, I carefully bandaged each laceration and put any fracture in a splint, maneuvering each so that they would come off on their own when the wounds were healed. The wolf sat there, obediently still, as I worked on each wound, examining me while I did.

When I finished, I stood up from the crouching position I had adopted for this procedure, smiled down at the wolf and instructed him in Kurdish, "Now, don't you do anything to those alright? Goodbye." But right as I opened the door to the car, the wolf jumped past me, landed on the drivers seat for several seconds before bounding into the passenger seat, circling around twice and sitting there with his tail wagging.

I was stunned for several seconds before kneeling on the drivers seat and saying, "No, no, you can't come with me, you have to stay here-" The wolf shook his head and licked my face, asserting that he was going to stay with me.

I frowned before sighing, "This is a horrible idea." Nevertheless, I got into the car and began driving again. Around the time I left Pennsylvania, I had decided to name this wolf Berthold (though I didn't know how this name came to me); I called him Bertie for short. I stopped every now and again so that Berthold and I could stretch our legs, and during these times I trained him to respond to some basic commands, all in Kurdish. Anyone who didn't know it would have quite a time trying to control him.

When we arrived at the FOXHOUND base, I had never been happier to see the nondescript building in my life. It didn't quite feel like coming home should, but I had never truly experienced that; this was the closest I would feel to coming home right now. Berthold bounded out of the car, sniffing all around this new area; I smiled a bit, Berthold probably smelled the other wolves out here.

Rat, Naomi and Saladin were all waiting for me outside the base. Naomi looked excited, while Rat and Saladin were puzzled at the sudden appearance of Berthold. I had tried to keep my composure and not run at the trio, but halfway to them I decided 'Screw That' and started running to them; Berthold sped up just for the sake of running.

Naomi ran to me as well, the two of us colliding a quarter of the way from the entrance in a hug; we talked rapid-fire about everything that had happened to the two of us in our two years apart, and I realized just how much I missed my other best friend.

"I'm so glad you're back, Ferishteh! I mean, ever since Falcon died and Jaguar disappeared FOXHOUND hasn't been doing that great. And the newest member is a total creep," Naomi said, crinkling her hose a bit in disgust, "It really hasn't been the same without you."

"Oh come on! Psycho Mantis isn't _that _creepy Naomi!" Rat exclaimed behind us, causing us to turn around.

"And you're a horrible liar, Rat," Saladin commented, much more interested in Berthold sniffing his trench coat, "This your wolf, kid?"

I smiled sheepishly before explaining, "I hit him with the car. After I fixed him up he hitched a ride with me and won't go away… I call him Berthold."

"Huh. I guess he just makes your legit codename more fitting," Saladin said with a smirk.

I blinked a few times before asking, "Oh yeah, what _is _my codename?" I had briefly wondered about asking why I was getting it right off the bat instead of taking the exam that most recruits take to get theirs before I remembered the way I was inducted into the main unit and kept my mouth shut for fear of sounding stupid.

Saladin smirked a little wider before answering, "From now on, your codename will be…"

"_**-Sniper Wolf-"**_


	6. Chapter 6: Broken Bird

_HERE IT GOES, HERE IT GOES, HERE IT GOES AGAIN- *has a treadmill thrown at her head* Anyways. Time for another chapter~! I know, I know, last time I could've done a bit better, but… Anyways, since the legitimate, pre-Shadow Moses business will probably start up in a chapter or so, I'll have to warn you all of a few things. I see __The Last Days of FOXHOUND__ almost as legit canon, so a few events from that may be borrowed and altered to fit this. I am deeply sorry._

_**-Broken Bird-**_

Though I knew things wouldn't be truly the same with FOXHOUND since Black-Arts Falcon was dead (apparently he was blown up by a landmine, but the autopsy was unable to determine if it was 'friendly fire' or not) and Volatile Jaguar had disappeared (Naomi speculated that he thought it was his landmine, or at least just blamed himself for not being able to protect his 'friend'), but I learned to accept the changes to the roster quickly enough.

In fact, my time fighting alongside Grey Fox, Manic Rat, Acid Crab- who had gotten better about his demeanor switching during battle- and Psycho Mantis not as just the occasional asset but as an actual comrade may have been my happiest time with FOXHOUND yet.

On the topic of Psycho Mantis, it actually took me quite some time to get used to him. If anything, Naomi was right about him being extremely creepy. He always wore a gas mask, along with clothing that made him look like a bondage slave; all the black leather he wore contrasted greatly with his extremely pale skin, and he looked so thin that I was convinced he hadn't eaten in several years.

However, that wasn't the creepiest thing about him, not by a long shot. Besides his overall cold and sadistic demeanor, Mantis had psychic powers. Before you scoff at the thought of a man being able to read minds, levitate objects, use mind control, levitate himself, turn himself invisible, and do much more I haven't seen or heard about, let me remind you that I worked alongside Falcon. I think you all remember quite well what he could do, and I'd bet several hundred bucks that there were more people out there with even weirder abilities.

I never experienced his powers first hand, but I did see them used on enemies; they scared me even more than Crab's chemical weapons, and that was just from my bad experiences with them in the past. Naomi had told me about Mantis's powers before I met him personally, so when I introduced myself I definitely expected he would read my mind on the spot. Maybe he did, I had no idea of knowing since I wasn't the psychic.

But no. He did something much more frightening as I said hello, told him my codename and smiled uneasily at him. Mantis had stared at me for one minute exactly before giving me a glare full of utter disdain and disgust through his gas mask. After that 'meeting' I was glad that I didn't sleep any more, because I knew that if I did I'd be having nightmares of that glare for several _years _at the very least.

I also learned that he hated sex and anything having to do with it (my cleavage included, which my uniform still exposed), so that might've increased his hate for me.

Nevertheless, Mantis's nightmarish status aside the end of 1994 and beginning half of 1995 were quite a happy time for me. I never felt more like I was part of a team, never felt more like I was a functioning part of a family. Although, I counted Mantis as the strange hobo the family picked up out of morbid curiosity and pity instead of a genuine part of it for a while.

Around the beginning of March, Rat began to pester me about how I was keeping my feelings for Saladin holed up inside and not telling him. Her concern in this matter was odd, to say the very least about my feelings on her behavior.

"Rat, you've never really cared about how I conducted my love life before," I remarked as she hung from the duct in the ceiling. When I became a legitimate member of FOXHOUND I was given Falcon's abandoned room to use as my own; though I missed rooming with Rat- and I found being in Falcon's room a disrespect to him since, for me at least, he had only just died recently- it didn't make that much of a difference since she knew her way around the ducts and would bug me for an hour or so before she went to bed like she used to.

"Why would it matter so much to you now?" I asked, raising my showing eyebrow. Rat was about to answer, but instead of saying what she meant to, her mouth hung open for a few minutes. I narrowed my eyes suspiciously; it was almost like she had been about to say something I wasn't allowed to know. Rat never kept secrets from me…

Rat closed her mouth and chewed on her lip for a little bit before she answered, "You've kept it bottled up for a while now and I'm kinda getting tired of the 'can't spit it out' routine."

My suspicion was thrown to the wind at this hypocritical statement, so I snapped, "Well, so is anyone who has any idea about how you get all humpy every time you even _think about _Grey Fox, so you really shouldn't be talking."

"That's different!" Rat exclaimed, blushing a little bit as she glared at me.

"Oh really? Is it really that different than my predicament? Both Saladin and Fox age-lap us by a decade at the least, we're both afraid to disturb to status quo by telling them our feelings, AND we both don't want to get ridiculed or hurt even worse for telling them! That doesn't seem too different to me, Rat, so here's the deal. I'll tell Saladin how I feel when _you _tell Fox the same. Kapeesh?" I proclaimed all in one breath (two breaths tops).

As I saw Rat's eyes darken with indignation and melancholic emotions, I immediately regretted my statement. I was misinformed somewhere, and I was going to pay for that. Rat never hurt me physically when I had wronged her in some way. No, instead she would go deathly serious and lay some hard truths on me instead, making me feel like crap for the rest of the week (sometimes for even longer than that).

Rat fell gently to the ground, landing perfectly as always, and said in a low deadpan, "I'm not the first person to fall in love with Grey Fox. Back in the '80s, he fell in love with a woman named Gustava Heffner who loved him back probably more than I ever could. She was an Olympic figure skater from Czechoslovakia, people used to call her the 'fairy on ice' because she was so graceful. Kind of like me, but not. Definitely not. She tried to elope with him, but she was denied U.S citizenship and could not leave her country."

Rat suddenly leaned against the wall, not in a casual way, but more like a support. She murmured, "I've heard much more about her, way more than what I just told you. She was a wonderful woman I couldn't hold a candle to. After knowing what I know about her… Something feels wrong about trying for Fox. I'm nothing like the woman he loved and deserved, definitely not."

Right as Rat was about to leave, I called, "Bullshit!"

This got her attention, so I continued, "Rat, people change. They get over things, they accept what happened in the past and forget about it. If you need proof of that, then have you noticed how Fox is the only one who catches you when you jump off of some high place even though you'd survive just as well without being caught? I've only ever seen him smile more around Naomi (and when he's making jokes at my expense), and he's kissed you on the cheek more than once in a totally not European way. Rat, you'd better tell him or you'll lose him to some other 'ice fairy' somewhere."

Rat stared at me with her dark eyes wide for a second or two before she grinned deviously and said, "Alright then, but remember our deal. I tell then you do~!" Rat swooped up into the ducts with a laugh as I realized what had just happened.

"You just conned me you bitch!!" I yelled after her.

"Hell yeah I did!" Rat called back from a few yards down the ducts.

But after that semi-hilarious series of events and the breaking off of me and Rat's deal, I was actually rather disturbed by that affair. As I watched Rat and Grey Fox test/humiliate/mess with a recruit that the both of them had taken a liking to, I thought about how easily Rat had lied to me. I knew it came with the job of being stealthy in every kind of way, but she had made a vow not to lie when off the clock; and then there was the secret she had almost spilled.

She never _ever _kept secrets from me… I realized right then that either much had changed besides the death and disappearance of two coworkers, or that I didn't know my comrades as well as I thought.

"The answer is both." I jumped when Mantis said that, whirling around to see him beside me.

I blinked twice before asking, "Would you care to elaborate?"

"… Nope. Not a chance, whorebag," Mantis replied. I could feel the sex-hating bastard smirking behind his mask. I glared daggers at him, hating the fact he could read my mind and telekinetically smash me into a wall faster than I could draw my knife and stab him in the side.

Around the middle of April, things started to get a bit more suspicious. We were being sent on sketchy missions, both solo ones and normal ones, that only Rat, Fox and Crab were allowed to know the details on. I was given the bare minimum of the information I needed to do my job, while Mantis was given even less. The higher ups, including Saladin, barely even spoke to me and Mantis those days, and I could tell that any normally essential details in our briefings were blatant lies.

By early June it had gotten so bad that me and Mantis were hardly even being deployed anymore. I didn't discuss these things with him, even though he could relate, because he was- well, because he was Mantis. So, on those days I had nothing to do, Naomi and I would go and walk with Berthold in the woods. I would talk to her about all my troubles and she would try her best to relate.

Around that time, though, she _could _relate. Naomi was working with Dr. Clarke more closely now because of her increasing skill, but lately Dr. Clarke had also been having her so some sketchy work that she was given very little details about.

"God, it _sucks _being kept in the dark when you _know _something's going on," Naomi griped as she and I followed Berthold across a creek, the two of us having to use some improvised stepping-stones while Berthold just walked on through the rushing water.

"I know. Nothing smells right about all this stuff going on and they're not even trying to hide that! All this sketchy activity… I just- I just hate it!" I snapped as we made it across the creek.

"Amen to that. I mean, not even Frankie's telling me anything. The last time I asked him about all this I could hear him apologize to me as I left… Why would he apologize? Do you think something's going to happen soon, Ferishteh?" Naomi asked. She was the one person on earth who still called me Feristeh.

"It seems that way," I murmured as I tried to avoid Berthold shaking water all over me.

Both Naomi and I were right in our suspicions, for something did happen. On June 14th, 1995, Operation Intrude N312 began. The government received intelligence that warned of a weapon of mass destruction that was supposedly being constructed deep within the fortress of Outer Heaven in South Africa. The higher ups called FOXHOUND in, demanding we send an agent to assess the situation and neutralize whatever threat the weapon posed to the western world.

Because of the dire nature of the mission, Grey Fox was sent all on his own. Naomi and I had seen Grey Fox pull off missions even more important and dangerous than this one in a few hours, so of course we started to worry after he was gone for a day. Yes, he kept in constant radio contact with the higher ups and Saladin, but with all this sketchy business going on the two of us couldn't be too sure of anything these days.

My personal suspicion rose another notch on the second day of Operation Intrude N312; well, it was more like midnight of the first day, but my point still stands. I had been sitting on the roof of the base, alone and wide-awake, when I spied something out of the corner of my eye. Just to be sure I wasn't seeing things in the dark, I closed the eye I normally left showing, pushed my hair out of the way to reveal my other eye (adjusted to the dark because of it constantly being obscured) and peered over the side of the building.

Both my eyes widened at what I saw. Rat and Crab, both of them being as stealthy as possible, were leaving the building, constantly looking over their shoulders. Aside from their weapons and the clothes on their backs, both of them were traveling impossibly light. I narrowed my eyes, now things were getting weird. Rat and Crab stopped near the road, looking over their shoulders a few times more, before conferring briefly with each other; Rat put the hood of her tunic on while Crab simply flipped the collar of his shirt when they stopped talking, the two of them setting off on foot down the road.

I had caught them leaving like this a few times for missions, but they did not come back the next day, or even the day after that. I briefly wondered if they were assisting Grey Fox in his mission, since it was still going on…

On June 17th, 1995, Operation Intrude N312 was decreed a failure as Grey Fox was captured after his last radio transmission cut off. His 'last words' were simply "Metal Gear". While I tried to quell Naomi's hysterics at the capture of her only family and figure out just what the hell was going on, Saladin and our superiors planned out Operation Intrude N313. N313 was basically the same objective, only with the rescue of Grey Fox included in it. All that was left to decide was who would carry it out.

It seemed like a great plan at the time. I would get on Operation Intrude N313, rescue Grey Fox for Naomi, destroy a WMD of some sort, and _maybe _find out what in the name of Allah was going on these days. But that plan fell flat on its ass before it could even proceed to faze one. The day before N313 began, I tracked down Saladin to ask him personally if I could be the soldier to carry out N313.

I had simply found him walking down a hallway in the base, no intense snooping through the base required.

"Saladin, sir?" I called. Saladin heard me and turned around; he didn't mind that I still called him Saladin, since he _was _the one who told me to call him whatever I wanted.

"As far as I know, nobody has decided the soldier that will carry out Operation Intrude N313, so… I would like to be that soldier, please," I said, biting my tongue afterwards out of nervousness. A guarded look entered Saladin's eye after I said that, and my heart sank. I knew that look; Rat got it back in March when she had been about to spill whatever secret she had been keeping from me.

"No. Nobody from the main FOXHOUND unit can be assigned to this mission," Saladin replied sharply. I furrowed my eyebrows at this; I had read Rat and Crab's lips through my scope and had seen Rat say 'N313' before the mission had even been a thought in our superiors' heads. That could mean that they knew what was going to happen, or that the mission had started earlier and that they were on it. Both of these contradicted what Saladin just said.

As I was about to say something more, Saladin turned his back to me and said in an even sharper tone, "That is my final word, Wolf." I let my mouth slowly close as Saladin walked down the hall; I couldn't bring myself to press the issue, and even if it weren't Saladin I don't think I could have.

On June 19th, 1995, the FOXHOUND recruit both Fox and Rat shared a liking for was given his codename (Solid Snake) and sent to carry out Operation Intrude N313. To say the least, I was pissed. First I was being denied any and all information about _everything_ these days, then my teammates were disappearing one by one, _then _I'm being denied a mission of FOXHOUND-level importance for no reason, _AND THEN _a much less skilled recruit was being sent on this very important mission! I was rightfully furious with my superiors.

But I'm not the type to explode in the faces of said superiors, making an ass out of myself. After taking some deep breaths and thinking things through, I decided that some snooping was in order. I spent all of Operation Intrude N313 in the base's main computer room, trying to hack every place imaginable to find out what was being kept from me on FOXHOUND's supercomputer.

Computers- or at least hacking- were not my strong point, so that could've been part of the reason that even with FOXHOUND's advanced computer I still got nowhere. But I had a good feeling that wasn't the main reason. Whenever I felt like I was getting even remotely close to a breakthrough, I'd run into a sudden firewall or find out that everything had been deleted or moved _just _before I had 'found' it.

It was _extremely _frustrating, and as I tried desperately to find the truth regardless of whoever was hiding it from me, my patience wore thinner and thinner. On the last day of Operation Intrude N313- I did not know it as the last day, but nevertheless- I stormed out of the computer room and slammed the door behind me, seething with rage. Mantis was leaning against a nearby wall, smirking his infuriatingly invisible smirk.

"Still no luck?" Mantis taunted me, knowing full well how much luck I'd had.

I glared at Mantis with murder in my eyes before shouting, "Shut up! I've had it, with you and everybody hiding things from me! I don't care if I make an ass of myself, I'm going to find Saladin and _demand _to know what the hell's going on around here!!"

"Funny thing about 'Saladin'…" Mantis began before someone to our left clearing his throat grabbed our attention. Both of us turned in that direction to see Colonel Roy Campbell- one of our superiors and the man who had been commanding FOXHOUND in Saladin's absence- standing there with a grave expression.

"What is it?" Mantis asked before I could even think of what to say, trying to keep me from making an ass of myself (an oddly considerate thing for him to do).

"I regret to inform the both of you that while Operation Intrude N313 was a success," Campbell began before pausing a little for reasons I didn't know. I could feel my jackal pack getting nervous and agitated with my increasing dread.

"Big Boss was apparently in charge of the entire Outer Heaven uprising. He was killed in the mission, while Grey Fox, Manic Rat and Acid Crab have been revealed as traitors and have disappeared," Campbell finished.

My entire world stopped right there. Everything around me had faded out and lost its saturation, I couldn't feel my heart beating; I could hardly even hear my own breathing. I didn't care that Fox, Rat and Crab were traitors, or even that Saladin was a traitor. All that ran through my mind was that he was dead.

Saladin, my first love, the first person I ever truly cared deeply about was _dead_. The greatest soldier in the world was gone forever from my world. My quest for the truth didn't matter any more. Then I realized- it wasn't that I couldn't hear my breathing; it was that it had _stopped altogether. _

My body kept me catatonic and numb until Mantis and Campbell left, and then I fell to my knees. As I said before, some things are beyond tears. None came to me as I knelt there, but I could feel my heart being yanked out again. The wind blew through the hole in my chest, as if it was mocking my emptiness. My jackal pack slowly walked out of my stomach, looking back once at me before walking solemnly away. I had a feeling I wouldn't be seeing them again.

For the next three days, I locked myself in my room and stared at the floor with the same wide, hollow eyes I currently had; my mind had gone blank, and I didn't care about anything. I didn't care as Berthold scratched at my door and howled for me to come out, I didn't care as Naomi tearfully pleaded for me to come out (because she needed me strong, because Fox wasn't around to be strong for her). After those three days, Naomi disappeared. My worry for the girl snapped me into a state of less emotional numbness, giving me the ability to care about some things again. I had found a compromise with the part of me that wanted me to keep living; I would pretend. I would live my life inside a 'bubble'. I would snipe inside the bubble, I would walk with Berthold in the bubble, I would smirk inside the bubble, but my heart wouldn't be in it.

I observed from the bubble as we gained three new members. The first was Vulcan Raven, a large (in a muscle-y sense) Inuit Shaman covered in tattoos of his people's symbols. Apparently he had been a mercenary in Outer Heaven, but hadn't encountered Solid Snake. He seemed to have a good head on his shoulders, despite all the spiritual things, so I took a liking to him (as much of a liking as I could take inside the bubble, anyways).

The second was Decoy Octopus a strange-looking man from Allah-knows-where. He was an odd case, not having any military experience at all and not being the fighting type of man. Instead… Octopus was a freak of nature. From what I could figure out, Octopus drank the blood of whomever he was impersonating to turn into their perfect copy. That freaked me out almost as much as Mantis's very existence did. But besides that, Octopus was actually a rather normal man; so logically, he hit on me on several occasions. I didn't like him quite as much as I did Raven.

The last was Revolver Ocelot, an older Russian man with aiming skills better than my own; and he used a revolver! To say the very least, Ocelot was an ass. I don't really know if any of us liked him, but I do know that I hated him the least and Mantis hated him the most. The two of them argued constantly, and I had a feeling that we should've been even _less _productive than the last incarnation of FOXHOUND.

Though I lived in my bubble, I was not myself anymore. I had stopped putting my hair up- though that happened before the bubble- and stopped showing off my chest, I didn't lose myself in the anticipation of sniping… I was fading into the background, slowly but surely. This was a good position for a sniper, but not for a human or a wolf; I had become neither. Right now… I was nothing. I had shut down, and I felt that nothing short of Saladin rising from the grave could reboot me.


	7. Chapter 7: Liquid Snake

_And let the lack of creativity BEGIN~! *brick'd* LAST TIME, Wolf was experiencing the Heroic Blue Screen of Death because her old, one-eyed crush-guy kicked the bucket. WILL SHE EVER REBOOT?!?! Find out on this episode of HOWLING BALL Z!!! I own nothing, not even that crappy reference. _

_**-Liquid Snake-**_

Years passed before I felt that anything of interest happened; but you shouldn't take my word for it, you know my condition. Mantis, Octopus, Ocelot, Raven and I went through many missions together, and if any of us were normal we'd probably become a strong team with unbreakable bonds. Seeing as Ocelot- in addition to being an ass- had backstabbed more people than I could count, Mantis was himself, and the rest of us were ourselves, that looked impossible from the get-go.

One thing I found almost interesting enough to snap me a little more into being a normal human was the Zanzibar Land Disturbance. By 1999, the Cold War had thawed, and it seemed nuclear proliferation would soon be a thing of the past. Despite this, all was not well in the world. A military junta came to power in Zanzibar Land, a small nation bordering the USSR, China, and the Middle East. After gaining its independence from the Soviet Union in the Mercenary War, Zanzibar Land began attacking nuclear weapons disposal sites around the world, seizing those weapons that were still intact, and becoming the world's only nuclear power. It then began to invade its neighbors at will.

Meanwhile, a series of shocks to the oil market spurred the development of new high-tech energy sources, including fusion power. However, most vehicles still relied on oil for power. Oil reserves were at a critical low, and the world community was prepared to take drastic measures, either by drilling into sand and shale for more oil, despite the difficulty -- or moving on to renewable fuels. Such steps proved unnecessary when Czech scientist, Dr. Kio Marv, successfully bio-engineered a new species of algae, OILIX, that could produce petroleum-grade hydrocarbons with little expense and effort. Marv presented the algae to the World Energy Conference in Prague, and was on his way to a demonstration in the United States when agents of Zanzibar Land kidnapped him.

NATO discovered that Zanzibar Land's leaders planned to hold the world hostage by controlling the supply of oil, along with the threat of nuclear war. Campbell brought Solid Snake out of retirement for this mission, so I suppose this was what snapped me into some more awareness; hearing the codename Solid Snake filled me with homicidal rage, the likes of which the world had never known. Either that, or the news that Grey Fox had been killed there while Acid Crab and Manic Rat had disappeared once more while Volatile Jaguar had been sighted alongside them. I could only imagine how Naomi would take the news. Solid Snake had (sickeningly enough) succeeded in his mission, taking down Zanzibar Land and effectively saving the world a second time.

That was one year ago. Let me inform you, now that we've gotten so far from this story's beginning, that I'm about twenty-three years old as of last August. Today is February 23, 2000, and today Campbell informed me that FOXHOUND would finally be a complete unit.

"I wasn't aware that our unit was not complete," I had commented when Campbell gave me the news yesterday, not looking away from the scope as I observed Berthold hunting in the woods. He liked to do that on his own, so I only kept an eye on him from a distance. Both Campbell and I were on the roof, because that was the best vantage point and I sure as hell wasn't coming down.

"The main FOXHOUND unit normally consists of six soldiers, and currently we only have five," Campbell explained, "We've finally found a suitable recruit." I chuckled dryly; I heard of all the sub-par soldiers being churned out of the final test, earning codenames like 'Snail' and 'Mole', so it was a good thing to see that a threatening 'animal' had finally appeared.

"What codename did he get?" I asked, taking my attention off of Berthold as I got a little interested.

Campbell was silent for a second or two- alerting me that I wouldn't like the codename our new member got- before he replied, "Snake. His codename is Liquid Snake." My eyes widened and I could feel rage simmering at the bottom of my stomach.

"… I'm assuming that since their prefixes are alike states of matter that there is some relation between this man and… Solid Snake?" I asked, biting my lower lip as I said 'Solid Snake'.

"Yes. Liquid is Solid Snake's brother. I'm not sure if he's aware of it…" Campbell replied.

"I'll try not to hate him simply because of who he's related to," I muttered after a long pause.

Campbell was silent for a few more seconds before he said, "Wolf, you're aware of how Big Boss and Solid Snake were related, right?"

"I thought they weren't," I replied simply. Campbell bit the inside of his lower lip before he told me something I never even considered for a slight moment.

He told me that Solid Snake was Saladin's son. His _son_. I had noticed that Snake looked like how I imagined a younger Saladin might, but I thought it coincidence… It seems that there aren't any coincidences around here. Now I didn't just hate Snake for killing Saladin, but for killing his own _father _in cold blood. Campbell had left me to let out a loud 'roar' and shoot something Berthold had been about to kill. I sat there on the roof all day, ranting to myself that it just wasn't possible and that it had to be a lie. By the time that night rolled around and Berthold had come up onto the roof to keep me company, I had somewhat accepted it.

Now, I just had to figure out what I thought of Liquid Snake. I knew nothing about him, minus the fact that he was Solid Snake's brother and Saladin's son… If I knew myself, I was certain that I'd start comparing the two of them the moment I met Liquid Snake.

Today I would meet him in a rather… unorthodox way. Berthold and I had been on the roof, the wolf in question lying by my side as I looked out at the front of the base with a disinterested look. I wasn't staring through the PSG-1's scope though, for I was much too bored to be sniping wildlife today. That, and Campbell always gave me hell when I did shoot the animals out there; I could never see why he cared so much.

As I was musing on Campbell's affections for animals, Berthold sat straight up, his ears perking up as well.

I sat up straight, blinking once or twice, before asking, "What is it Bertie?" Berthold then 'pointed' down at the front of the base right as Ocelot walked out with someone by his side. His back was turned to me (and I was high up), so I could only see that this person wore a long brown trench coat (I had practiced suppressing the heartache, so I didn't associate it with Saladin's coat) and had long-ish blonde hair. Right as he and Ocelot stopped a few feet from the entrance and turned towards each other, Berthold started growling and baring his teeth at the blonde one.

Right as I was about to question it, Berthold let out a loud bark and jumped off the roof towards the blonde one. I didn't even get the chance to call out to him before my wolf had tackled the object of his detestation (eliciting a surprised yelp from said 'object') and was pinning him to the ground while growling in his face. I frowned and swooped off the roof, keeping both feet and one hand on the wall (the other holding the PSG-1) as I slid to the ground at a manageable speed.

As I slid, I could hear Ocelot note, "Yeah, that's Berthold. He'll get used to you eventually." That alerted me immediately that the blonde one was Liquid Snake, the resident new recruit.

I landed on both feet and walked a little ways before calling, "Berthold! Girtî!" Berthold looked back at me before growling at Liquid Snake again and trotting back to me. Liquid stood up semi-shakily and brushed himself off a little before muttering something about not liking dogs under his breath. Right then, the two of us noticed each other. The first two things I noticed were that Liquid didn't wear a shirt underneath his coat and that his eyes were green. He certainly looked a lot like Solid Snake, but not very much like Saladin. Maybe he took after his mother?

"Well, this saves me the trouble of tracking you down, Wolf," Ocelot remarked casually, spinning his revolver around (as he was wont to do), "Liquid, this is Sniper Wolf. Berthold is her monster."

Berthold growled at Ocelot while I smiled politely at Liquid and said before extending my hand to shake, "Ah, so you're Liquid Snake? It's a pleasure to meet you."

Liquid stared at me for a couple seconds in an almost dumbfounded manner before he shook my hand and replied in a British accent I should've expected from details I got earlier today but didn't, "The pleasure's all mine Miss Wolf." I wanted to roll my eyes, but I settled for turning my attention to scratching Berthold behind the ear; I got that reaction a lot from men, and I'm sure you can realize why if you're paying attention.

"So, it's my understanding that you were with the British military before FOXHOUND?" I asked, not looking up from Berthold as I knelt beside him to pet him better.

"Yep," Liquid replied simply.

"Army or marines?" I questioned further.

My eyebrows and mouth flattened into straight lines as Liquid replied again with, "Yep." I had a feeling where his eyes were wandering.

I glared up at him and asked in a threateningly calm tone, "We _are _making eye contact, yes?" Liquid's eyes immediately darted back up to mine and he grinned sheepishly.

"Uhm, sorry about that," Liquid said, "Actually, I was with the air force."

I allowed him a smirk and remarked, "Air force? Hm, interesting."

I straightened up into a fully standing position before continuing, "So, I suppose that since you're new around here I might as well give you a demonstration of my sniping skills."

"Yes, actually, I'd like that," Liquid mentioned.

I smirked before replying, "Campbell has forbid me from shooting anything that's alive in the forest, so…" I glanced from the corner of my eye at a bird about a kilometer away flying over the forest before pointing the PSG-1 backwards on my shoulder and pulling the trigger. I could hear a distant caw and Liquid's eyes widened a little at my skill.

"Çûn anîneve ew, Berthold," I said calmly. Immediately Berthold took off into the woods, coming back within a minute with the bird. I scratched him behind the ear, calling him a good boy, before looking back at Liquid with an almost smug smirk.

"Satisfied?" I asked.

"You… certainly live up to your reputation," Liquid remarked.

My smirked widened as I murmured cryptically, "Let's just hope you live up to yours." I turned away from him right then and strolled back into the base without a backward glance, Berthold catching up to me quickly as I did. I ran into Raven about a minute after I entered the base.

"So, did you meet Liquid?" Raven asked, the two of us now walking together through the halls. Berthold was wagging his tail rapidly, walking between me and Raven; as a shaman, Raven had quite the connection with animals. It was only natural that Raven was Berthold's second favorite human.

I rolled my eyes and replied, "Yes. First thing's first, Berthold doesn't like him. And second… I was expecting him to have a little more class than he does."

"I can tell you didn't interact with him for very long. Trust me, it's much worse than it seems," Raven muttered. I cringed at that remark; it seemed that Saladin could only produce inadequate or homicidal offspring.

About two days passed before we finally got a mission as a complete team. The briefing was early that morning, but that hardly mattered for my state of mind (what with my tranquilizer addiction); Liquid looked like he was tired enough to pass out right there, so I had to slap him into awareness twice before the briefing. To say the least, slapping Liquid felt vaguely satisfying, even if I did feel a little guilty when he looked at me with a 'What Was That For?' expression.

Campbell explained the situation, as per usual; several hours ago, the American embassy in Tknsydska was attacked by splinter unit of the Tknsydska Special Forces lead by Colonel Jensen Kyrnosz. We had encountered this man before in our missions, and none of us FOXHOUND veterans were very fond of having to encounter him again. From what we could gather from our intelligence, it seemed that the ambassador was taken hostage. What happened after he gave us this information was probably the single greatest instance in the history of this unit as of this year.

"Wait a minute- let me get this straight," Ocelot began.

"We're being sent into the _buttcrack _of eastern Europe," Liquid continued before I picked up, "To rescue the _single least important _member of the US government," then Mantis continued, "From a bunch of wack-jobs," before Octopus picked up once more, "Being lead by Colonel Shit-For-Brains there?"

"It seems like a complete waste of time and resources," Raven finished, "And we have gone on some _very _pointless missions before." It took Campbell a minute or so to get over that brilliantly seamless melding of our thoughts and ideas. It even took Liquid and I a few seconds to recover.

"The ambassador isn't what's really important here," Campbell replied to our mass 'question', "It's most likely that the real target of the attack is the communications tower, which is the only link to the military's secure data network in eastern Europe."

"Aw _crap_," Ocelot grumbled, voicing what most of us were feeling.

"Aw crap what?" Liquid asked.

"That means that, in theory, they can get access to all of the US military's files," I explained.

"_Including _our own dossiers. That's bad," Mantis added.

"How come?" Liquid questioned further. I rolled my eyes and tried to refrain from muttering my judgments under my breath.

"We aren't exactly 'popular' in the rest of the world these days. Hell, I can't even count on one hand the organizations that want us dead," Octopus scoffed.

"Hm, I don't _think _anyone wants _me _dead… at least, that's what I can remember," Liquid murmured to himself. I raised an eyebrow when he mentioned his memory; perhaps that had something to do with why he didn't 'jive' with everything I had heard about him.

We left for Tknsydska soon after the briefing, getting there at nightfall in their time zone. I quickly took up a post near the perimeter of the area, looking for any of the soldiers to take out. It was business as usual for me as I took down several soldiers guarding the outside of the embassy and I had a feeling that this mission wasn't going to be interesting for me personally.

However, something strange did occur; not for everyone, but for me personally. I had taken down two soldiers, one listening to an MP3 player (the idiot), but when I had been right about to look for more targets Liquid had strolled into the periphery of my crosshairs; I raised an eyebrow, wondering what Liquid was up to. I got my answer as Liquid grave-robbed the soldier of his MP3 player and left, presumably humming the tune he was listening to.

My bubble disappeared for a minute, allowing me to crack a real grin and laugh a little at that. As my bubble reappeared, I gasped and realized what just happened; I had genuinely felt something after so long. Though part of me was happy about this revelation, another part of me was frightened and disoriented. I wasn't used to feeling, it was foreign to me now. As I regained my composure, I caught sight of Kyrnosz heading to the communications tower.

"Colonel Dumbass is going to the tower. You're on Octopus," I said over the radio.

"Copy that," Octopus replied. I could hear the smirk in his voice, though it technically wasn't his since he had disguised himself as Kyrnosz just a little while ago. I kept a good watch on the comm. tower for about twenty minutes before Raven contacted me over the radio.

"Wolf, is there anything strange going on out there?" Raven asked.

"Not that I can see. Why?" I replied.

"We've hit a snag in the rescue," Octopus cut in.

"What kind of snag? Is the ambassador dead?" I asked, fearing the worst.

"It's pretty hard to kill a guy you never had hostage to kill," Octopus replied bitterly. My eyes widened in surprise; the ambassador was a decoy?! Then… there had to be a trap, there just had to be.

After something like fifteen minutes of tense waiting for a trap, I let out a yelp of surprise and dropped my rifle next to me as the embassy exploded in a gigantic ball of flames, the comm. tower included. I gained true feeling again as the charred rubble and people flew everywhere, but this time I was feeling worry for my comrades. And right as I was thinking that they could all be dead and about to run over there to find survivors, I was knocked over by Liquid at three hundred miles per hour. Liquid's momentum sent us both rolling towards a nearby cliff where wefinally stopped with Liquid's semi-conscious body pinning me to the ground.

"Ah, I must really be dead," Liquid remarked dazedly as he realized the situation we were in.

I rolled my eyes and dragged the two of us to our feet before snapping, "No, you're still alive Liquid even though you shouldn't be. Now come on, we need to find the others!"

"Well, here's one right here." Both Liquid and I turned towards the cliff when we heard Mantis's even raspier than normal voice to see him just barely holding his upper torso on the cliff. I immediately ran over to him- dragging Liquid behind me because he was still hardly aware of his surroundings- and tried to hold down a gasp as I saw a spike of rock had impaled Mantis through the abdomen.

I had crouched down and was about to grab Mantis's hand to help him up, but before I could Mantis gave me a glare filled with contempt and rasped, "Oh don't you even _think _about touching me, slutbucket."

My showing eye twitched a bit; this was absolutely absurd, even for Mantis.

"Mantis, you could _die_. Just let me help, you misogynistic bastard," I snapped, glaring at him with the same level of contempt while Raven, Octopus and Ocelot arrived to this spectacle.

"Okay, what's the problem here?" Ocelot asked, walking up to me and Mantis.

I stood up and grumbled, "There's no problem here. He's being a stubborn idiot, so let him."

Liquid also walked up beside me to ask Mantis, "Wait, why don't you just levitate yourself up here? You _can _do that."

"A couple reasons. First, levitation takes quite a bit of concentration, concentration that I don't have in this situation," Mantis replied, "Which brings me to reason two, there's a stalactite the size of a tree trunk lodged in my stomach!"

"Stalagmite," Raven corrected. Everyone just stared at him.

"Stalactites point downward," Raven clarified.

"Yeah, but doesn't a stalagmite have to be pointing up?" Octopus wondered. I also wondered why everyone was bickering about what was impaling Mantis instead of helping him, but I was still pissed off at him so it didn't matter too much.

"So what's it called when it points sideways?" Ocelot asked.

"How about stalag_bites_?" Liquid suggested with a very stupid looking grin on his face. I could tell that this wouldn't end well.

"As in 'stalag-_bites _to be him right now'?" Liquid continued. Ocelot did the honors and pistol-whipped Liquid across the face for his stupidity.

"Someone pull me up here so I can kill him," Mantis hissed. Eventually we did get Mantis off the cliff, though Liquid didn't get murdered. As we were leaving from a mission only _slightly _botched, I was prepared to leave Liquid on his own for his stupid pun; but he just _had_ to do such a great job of standing at the back of our group as we walked looking pitiful with a revolver-shaped bruise on his face. I bit my lip and fell back beside him, walking in time with him as he realized my presence.

"For future reference, Liquid, don't make horrible puns when a teammate is in danger of dying of blood loss, infection, or both at once," I murmured with a gentle smile.

"Yeah, I know that was a dumbass move," Liquid sighed, "You don't hate me too much for it, do you?"

"You should be much more concerned with their opinions. They aren't nearly as forgiving as I am," I chuckled, indicating the others when I mentioned them.

Liquid looked from me to them before smiling and mentioning, "I don't know, something about your opinion seems quite a bit more important." I tried to hold down a blush, then tried to figure out why that blush even existed; Saladin had never once complimented me in a roundabout way like that, and yet this… it seemed that the comparing of Liquid to Saladin was starting a bit later than I thought it would.

_The two Kurdish phrases Wolf uses mean (loosely, since I'm not a native Kurdish speaker) 'Off', and 'Go get it'. If anyone has any corrections, I could really use them._


	8. Chapter 8: Battle In The Base

_LAST TIME, explosions happened! Get ready for more! Three more explosions happen, to be precise. Damn this is a boring pre-chapter comment. BUT WHATEVER LET'S GO._

_**-Battle In The Base-**_

I was quite certain that after the Tksyndska mission Liquid had become rather taken with me, but he had cemented that notion a day afterwards. At that time I was in rather bad mood, so I suppose I was a bit too hard on him. Liquid had walked up to me that day, looking nervous and quite unsure of himself; I could understand perfectly why, since he wasn't on the good side of everyone else here.

"Uhr, Wolf, could I ask you a hypothetical question?" Liquid asked, scratching the back of his head nervously.

I really wasn't in the mood, so I snapped, "Fine, make it quick."

"Alright, okay. Alright… so, say I hypothetically asked you if you hypothetically wanted to go on a hypothetical date with hypothetically me-" I got a marvelously horrible idea right then.

"I'd hypothetically shoot you in the knees, hypothetically stab you in the face, hypothetically feed your body to Berthold and hypothetically say no. Why do you ask?" I replied with a smirk. Liquid was nowhere near as amused as I was with that; he was white as a ghost, eyes wide in terror. I could just _tell_ his mind was playing out that gruesome scenario for him in grisly detail.

"… Oh, no reason. Just curious…" Liquid said shakily, trying to form a smile of his own and just grimacing instead.

"That's what I thought," I purred, an arrogant smirk playing on my lips as I turned away and walked down the hall. My smirk fell pretty soon afterwards; I felt guilty for messing with Liquid once again, and it infuriated me.

_I was never like that with Saladin, not ever, _I thought as Berthold appeared from nowhere and started walking alongside me.

"But then again, I never actually teased or messed with Saladin," I muttered to Berthold and myself.

I looked down at Bertie, scratched him a little behind the ears, and asked, "What do you think, Berthold? Was I a little too hard on him?" Berthold simply looked up at me, wagging his tail a little faster.

I only had a day to ponder that, for two days later everyone was alerted by a ground-shaking explosion on one of the higher levels of the base in the middle of the night. The minute I felt the shockwave through the building and heard the sound I rushed up the levels of the base faster than my legs should be able to carry me. I had no idea why I was so eager to see what happened, I only knew that I _had _to see; I had a feeling…

When I was getting nearer to the scene of the attack, as it were, Liquid joined up with me. I couldn't help noticing that he wasn't wearing his trench coat- which was logical, since he was probably sleeping before the explosion- and had a tattoo of a snake coiling around a sword on his right upper arm. I have _no _idea why I decided to notice that.

"Christ, Wolf, why so eager?" Liquid wondered as he ran alongside me up the stairs.

"What do you mean?" I snapped.

"Wouldn't it be wise to go _away _from where dangerous things have just happened?" Liquid wondered quasi-sarcastically. I rolled my eyes and let out a scoff while Liquid frowned at that.

"Yes, that would be a logical thing to do. But, hell, I don't care," I replied. Liquid rolled his eyes in turn, obviously not understanding me. In fact, I didn't really understand me right now, so I couldn't blame him. We met up with the rest of FOXHOUND when we got there, and what I saw puzzled me greatly.

"Whoever did this just blew up an empty wall?" Octopus wondered incredulously, sticking his head through the large hole left by the explosion. Yes, the mysterious bomber had simply blown up a large piece of empty wall that had taken some of the floor with it as well instead of anything of value.

"It's obviously a distraction, one that's working _splendidly_," Ocelot commented, resisting the urge to push Octopus out of the hole in the wall.

"Perhaps that's what they _want _us to think-" Liquid began before everyone glared at him.

"Liquid, you're not allowed to talk. Remember that," Mantis hissed.

"Anyways, we need to figure out who did this," Raven commented, trying to bring everyone away from thoughts of Liquid's murder. I had already set about trying to figure that out, crouching to the ground and looking around the blackened remains of the wall. I carefully scanned the ground for a second or two before I found something of any value.

It was a pin to a grenade. But not just any standard grenade, definitely not; I had seen this pin get ripped out of special, remote controlled grenades right before those grenades were stuffed down the throats of anyone in their user's way and then detonated…

"It's Jaguar," I said out loud as I stood up with the pin in hand, "And I'm sure he brought friends with him."

"Who?" Octopus wondered, sticking his head back into the room with a confused expression.

"Volatile Jaguar, a former member of FOXHOUND who disappeared several years ago that worked primarily with explosives," Mantis explained before turning to me, "You're certain?"

"Definitely. Just pick through my mind, this pin matches exactly to the ones I remember being in Jaguar's remote-controlled grenades," I replied, showing Mantis the pin. I couldn't tell if he read my mind or not to verify my claim, but in a few moments he looked back up at my showing eye and nodded simply.

"Alright, I'm going to look for either Jaguar or whoever he brought with him," I declared, handing Mantis the pin and taking my kukri out of its sheathe, "You guys can either follow or split up, it doesn't matter too much." I turned to go back down the stairs and found that Liquid, Ocelot and Mantis had decided to follow after me while Octopus and Raven had gone their own way. They were obviously puzzled though when I found Dr. Clark's lab and started slinking across the wall as silently as possible.

"What does Dr. Clark's lab have to do with any of this?" Liquid wondered in a whisper as he followed me closest behind. I had several comparisons flowing through my brain about his close proximity, but due to the situation I wasn't in the mood for analyzing them.

"For one, Dr. Clark isn't here right now so that's a little suspicious, and if I'm right about who Jaguar brought with him then one of them will at least want to stop by here on their visit," I whispered back, not looking back at Liquid as I did.

"More FOXHOUNDers from before my time?" Ocelot wondered. I could hear the raised eyebrow even without looking at him.

"You bet your ass," Mantis replied with a bit of chagrin in his raspy voice. Right when I was about a foot or so away from the door, I flattened myself completely to the wall when I heard voices and noise; I put up my hand for the others to stop, and though Ocelot and Mantis stopped just fine Liquid almost smacked into my hand.

My eyes widened when I heard an all too familiar voice say, "There, that's all I need. Damn, Clark never had acid or any of this crap when we were around. How times have changed."

_Acid Crab, _I thought, my eyes narrowing. My suspicions were true all along, which at least calmed me a little; I was fighting a known enemy instead of an unknown enemy, which was always much harder to defeat.

"Crab…" I heard Rat begin with an uncertain tone I wasn't used to from her, "… Can't we take him along with us?" My eyebrows furrowed in confusion as I wondered just who they meant.

"Rat, you know we can't. Grey Fox's entire _existence _is pain now; we have to put him out of his misery. And besides, he's definitely not the same as he was," Crab said sternly to Rat. My eyes immediately widened at that. Grey Fox?! He was supposed to be dead!

"That's it," Mantis proclaimed suddenly. Out of nowhere he telekinetically threw the rest of us against the opposing wall before stepping back and blowing a gigantic hole through the wall where we were standing with a blast of what I could only describe as green-tinted lightning. I could feel the charge in the air as Mantis destroyed the wall, and the overwhelming power of it blew me away almost literally. I could see Rat and Crab whip around fast enough to get whiplash through the hole in the wall Mantis had just created. It was a little disturbing that they looked almost exactly the same as when I last saw them.

Despite nearly getting immolated, Rat sprinted at Mantis without hesitation and threw several knives in his direction while pulling out two more to use for close range combat. Mantis expertly caught the knives with the telekinetic force he used to throw us against the wall and shot them back at Rat at a faster velocity than she had thrown them. Rat paused for a moment on the ledge of the broken wall to catch the knives before launching herself at Mantis and _almost _landing a roundhouse kick in his face; Mantis just _barely _'caught' her foot before it could smack his gas mask straight off his face.

Mantis telekinetically smashed Rat into the ground with devastating force, but it didn't faze her in the slightest. Rat simply jumped to her feet and pulled out her knives again. I caught Ocelot smirk out of the corner of my eye. Ocelot removed his revolver from its holster and spun it around as he strolled a few feet closer to Rat and Mantis. Rat's piercing glare immediately moved from Mantis to Ocelot, though she held her stance. Mantis also glared at Ocelot; he had been enjoying himself, I could tell.

"Looks like you don't have a long-range weapon on you, kid," Ocelot began condescendingly while Rat raised an eyebrow, "Let's hope you know how to dodge bullets." Ocelot shot at her immediately after he finished talking, fully expecting her to either die or dodge. Rat just blocked the oncoming bullet with her knife, using the simplest of motions to do so; even though Ocelot was my comrade, I had to admit that the surprised expression on his face when Rat deflected the shot so effortlessly was priceless.

Ocelot frowned and shot at Rat several more times, but each time she deflected the bullet with even less effort. On his last bullet, Rat decided to fuck with him a little and deflected his shot just so that it would ricochet back and graze his cheek. Ocelot's expression of incredulous fury was even more than priceless, which said quite a lot about our team's camaraderie.

"What's the hold up? Just shoot her," Mantis snapped.

"The _bitch _shouldn't be able to do that," Ocelot growled.

"Wow, what would Grey Fox say if he saw the sorry state of FOXHOUND?" Rat wondered, twirling both of her knives around in a fashion that almost mocked Ocelot. That was a bit too much for both Mantis and Ocelot combined. Right as they picked up on Rat's comment Mantis sent another bolt of psychic lightning her way while Ocelot shot at her twice more. Though she was my enemy now, I had to admit that her next move was definitely impressive. Faster than I could process, Rat blocked both of the bullets with her knife before using it as a lightning rod to direct Mantis's lightning at the wall right between me and Liquid; she then cart wheeled around the bolt, leapt onto the ceiling just so she could use it as a springboard to leap down and kick Mantis in the side of the head hard enough for him to smash into Ocelot, taking them both down at the same time.

"Christ, what the hell are you _made _of?! Dirtylittle_bitch_-inite!?" Mantis growled as he attempted to get to his feet. I took this opportunity to creep up behind Rat as she was landing and kick one of her knives out of her hands.

"… What could you possibly gain from just kicking away _one _of my knives when you know I have many more to replace it?" she asked, looking over her shoulder at me. If she was surprised to see me, she certainly didn't show it.

"I was hoping for a more traditional knife fight, actually," I replied, getting into a fighting stance as Rat turned fully around to face me. Rat stared at me for about a minute, possibly contemplating something (though I had no idea what).

She then smirked and replied, "Alright then, I'll play fair." Immediately Rat launched herself at me, ready to slice my throat right open; I blocked as soon as she was in range, but Rat didn't give up and kept pushing to overpower me. I held fast and eventually overpowered her; Rat went stumbling backwards and I struck to stab her in the face. Rat deflected that strike and I deflected her next one, the sound of metal on metal ringing through the hall over all other noise. I struck at Rat again, and as she blocked I kept pushing to overpower her once again. Rat actually overpowered me this time, sending me stumbling into the wall; before Rat could take advantage of that, I used the wall as a springboard to leap back at her with another strike.

Rat blocked that strike, but I used the opportunity I had to knee her in the gut; Rat doubled over, the wind knocked out of her. I further took advantage of the situation and tackled her to the ground, pinning her arms behind her back and getting her in a chokehold. I grinned in as much amusement as I could muster at my victory while Rat struggled against my hold. Suddenly my attention was brought elsewhere as I heard something slam hard against the wall; I quickly turned around (bringing Rat around with me) to see Crab holding Liquid against the wall, his hands wrapped as tightly as possible around Liquid's throat.

"Well well well, seems I've found you, Snake," Crab hissed, putting as much bitterness and spite on the word 'snake' as possible. My eyebrows furrowed; people only referred to Liquid as 'liquid' for a specific reason…

"Crab, you idiot," Rat hissed herself through gritted teeth.

"What?" I asked, looking at her.

"The idiot never met Solid Snake before, so he thinks that pansy over there is Snake-!!" Rat started choking again at the end of her sentence because my chokehold tightened just enough to cut off her air supply. Something in me didn't take too kindly to Liquid being called a pansy; I could only recall a similar situation in regards to Saladin- this REALLY wasn't the time for my emotional issues! I turned my attention right back to Crab and Liquid.

"So, how did it feel, Snake?" Crab wondered, glaring harshly at Liquid as Liquid tried to comprehend the situation before him _and_ try to breath at the same time.

"Answer me! How did it feel to kill Grey Fox?! How did it feel to kill your own _father_?!" Crab yelled. I had a feeling he was going to go on, but Liquid immediately cut him off.

"Wait a moment- you think that I'm Solid Snake, don't you?" Liquid wondered with a frighteningly amused edge to his voice, a smirk making its way onto his face. Crab honestly did not know how to respond to this sudden change in demeanor, even though he had so much experience in that field himself. Out of nowhere, to further heighten the almost surreal moment, Liquid began to laugh; it wasn't mirthful, not in the slightest. It was bitter, mocking, and actually rather frightening. Liquid's green eyes looked right into Crab's when he finished laughing, and I could tell that they too had a piercing edge to them.

"I wouldn't use that _bastard's_ code name even if the fate of the world depended on it," Liquid hissed, "Now I'd appreciate it if you'd stop strangling me so that we could fight properly."

"I'd like to see you make me stop," Crab growled right back, "I know your type. You wouldn't carry a weapon ever because that's not how 'real men' fight, and don't think you're in any shape to overpower a FOXHOUND veteran."

Liquid shrugged and remarked, "True, I wouldn't _carry _a weapon, per se." In the blink of an eye Liquid kicked Crab in the left elbow and stabbed Crab straight through the joint with his boot knife. Crab let out a cry and pulled back, releasing Liquid; Liquid let out another laugh, pulled his knife out of Crab's elbow before tossing it back and forth between his hands.

"I don't think keeping one in your shoe counts as carrying it, right?" he wondered with an arrogant smirk. Crab glared at him before letting out a growl and retrieving a syringe of dark-colored fluid I didn't recognize from Allah-knows-where. Crab rushed at Liquid, preparing to punch him in the face; Liquid stabbed his fist, but Crab seemed to have planned for that because he simply flinched, kneed Liquid in the stomach and stabbed the syringe into Liquid's neck. Crab emptied the syringe's contents into Liquid's bloodstream, and immediately Liquid's eyes rolled back into his head as he fell to the floor like he had just been shot.

Right then Rat broke my hold and rushed over to Crab while I ignored her and sprinted to Liquid's side; my bubble was gone once again, worry and fear overwhelming me as I knelt by Liquid's unconscious form. I let out a sigh of relief when I found that Liquid was still alive and breathing, but I wasn't completely calmed. I hoisted one of Liquid's arms around my shoulder so that I could hold him up, then turned to Rat as she was tearing off one of Crab's sleeves to use as a makeshift bandage for his heavily injured arm. We both glared daggers at each other, but before we could avenge our comrades by fighting each other, the ceiling above us exploded. As I ducked away from the falling debris, I could see Jaguar leap through the hole he made in the ceiling while Raven and Octopus were hot on his tail.

"Come on you two, we've gotta go _now_!!" Jaguar shouted, turning to Rat and Crab. They both nodded and the three of them began sprinting down the hall. I carefully set Liquid down before chasing after them faster than a bat out of hell. However, right as we were getting into the last third of that hallway, Jaguar glared over his shoulder at me and blew up the entire chunk of the building we were in. I was just able to avoid it with a well-timed back flip, but somehow when I looked through all the smoke, dust and falling chunks of cement it seemed that Jaguar, Rat and Crab had escaped.

"How in the world is that even possible?" I wondered as I ran back down the hall and found everyone else outside Dr. Clark's lab.

"The bastard got away, didn't he?" Octopus growled bitterly. I nodded, my bubble going back up as I did.

"So did the other two," I added. I then walked back over to Liquid's side; he hadn't so much as twitched in the short amount of time I left him. I called Mantis over and asked him to see what was going on with Liquid.

"Something in what Acid Crab stabbed him with shut off almost all of his mental functions," Mantis answered after probing through Liquid's mind for a second or two, "The substance itself will filter out of Liquid's system easily enough, but I'll have to go deep into his subconscious to bring him back to the world of the living. That'll take some preparation, so we'll have to wait a few days."

"Feh, why bring him back? We don't need the idiot slowing us down-" Ocelot began as he finally got his bearings, but he couldn't finish. A familiar rage billowed up deep inside me and commanded me to stomp over to Ocelot and backhand-slap him as hard as I possibly could. When I realized what I had just done, I began to panic in my mind; I had just lost all control and let my emotions rule me, and this is what happened. And I had absolutely no idea why I had done it.

"What the HELL was that?!" Ocelot shouted, looking angrier than I had ever seen him. But then again, I couldn't exactly blame him; the night hadn't exactly been very kind to him, to say the least. But even though I didn't know why I had slapped Ocelot, I had to make up something. So I did, right there on the spot.

"First of all, Liquid _was _holding his own just a few minutes ago if memory serves the both of us right. He's not _entirely _useless. And second, like it or not Liquid is our teammate so we can't just drop him and leave him as a vegetable. So get over it or leave, Ocelot," I replied, giving Ocelot a stern glare. Ocelot glared back at me, but knew that was something he couldn't really argue with.

I smirked a bit, looked over at Liquid over my shoulder and thought, _You owe me one, Liquid. _


	9. Chapter 9: Outer Heaven

_Let us perchance to venture back into our story. LAST TIME, Liquid was forcibly put in a coma by an Iraqi terrorist and his mildly sexy associate(s) while Wolf kept her pimp hand strong by backhanding Ocelot and tellin' him to quit his bitchin'! Now let's hop to it! This one's gonna be a doozey! I own nothing except the stuff I do own. _

_**-Outer Heaven-**_

The day after the attack, Mantis set about Liquid's mental retrieval. All I could understand from Mantis's technobabble-ridden explanation was that he and Raven- since Mantis wasn't about to brave the possible death trap of Liquid's mind without a fellow psychic (I forgot to mention that Raven had precognitive abilities, my apologies) as backup- would be going deep into Liquid's mind to bring him out of his coma by giving him a mental boot to the head. Knowing Mantis, Liquid may have not come out of this coma with the ability to speak intact if left unchecked. I threatened Raven into watching him carefully. The process would be long and boring in the real world, so I left Berthold in charge of watching the bodies of Mantis, Liquid and Raven as the mental retrieval commenced.

Though I tried to occupy myself as I waited, I couldn't shake my anxiety. I was constantly wondering if Liquid was alright or not as I strolled around the forests, and constantly berating myself for doing so. But even though I was worried for Liquid and scared of my own emotional and mental state, I was preoccupied with something else as well. Grey Fox. I needed to know if what I heard was true, and if Fox really was alive. If so, that was either good or bad news for Naomi, and then came the question of how this had happened. I had a very good feeling that nobody would know about this but the woman who was most likely responsible, so I tracked down Dr. Clark for the answers I needed.

Oddly enough I found her in the first place I expected, and that would be in her lab. The wall Mantis destroyed had been hastily patched up with various different materials, giving the walls a haphazard and individual look that I'm quite sure Dr. Clark preferred. The elderly woman was working diligently as always, this time analyzing a sample of the substance that put Liquid into a coma we extracted from Liquid's bloodstream earlier. I politely stopped in the doorway to her lab and knocked on the doorframe, since knocking on an open door would be rather pointless. Dr. Clark stood up straight from leaning over a microscope and turned to me with a bright smile; I couldn't help but smile too. Dr. Clark was one of the nicest and friendliest old women I had ever met, though I hadn't met very many old women besides my grandmothers on both sides of my family. She talked quite a lot, though.

"Ah, Ferishteh! It's good to see you," she chirped, "Let me tell you something, Altair still has his talent. This stuff is one hard nut to crack, my dear." I laughed a little bit as I walked into the lab; Dr. Clark called all of us by our real names, if she knew them, and I remember her treating Naomi like she was her own granddaughter… My soft spot for the old woman almost made me want to give up on my pursuit of the truth, but I had to hold fast. I had been lied to far too many times; I needed the truth at least once.

"Yeah, Crab is certainly something," I agreed, "Listen, I wanted to ask you something Dr. Clark…"

"Ask away my dear," she answered, turning back to the sample and fiddling with the microscope; she muttered something about needing her glasses for this, even though the microscope should be enough.

I gulped a little before beginning, "Y'see, while I snuck up on Rat and Crab last night when they were in here, I heard them talking about… about Grey Fox." Dr. Clark nearly froze where she was, though her fingers were obviously shaking. My spirits fell; she obviously knew what I was going to say.

"They referred to him like he was here, and… and alive. What happened to Grey Fox, Dr. Clark? I need to know," I finished. Dr. Clark was still and silent- not something I was used to from the normally talkative woman. After a little while she let out a big sigh and stood straight, facing me as she did. She looked oddly tired, something that also contrasted with her normally cheerful demeanor.

"The first thing I want you to know, my dear, is that I follow the orders given to me," Dr. Clark began, "No matter what they are. It's a bad trait of mine, I'm afraid."

"Now… Grey Fox's remains were retrieved from Zanzibarland and brought back here after the Zanzibarland Disturbance. He was brought back using a custom exoskeleton made by Tokugawa Heavy Industries. I was instructed to perform various experiments on him involving gene therapy," Dr. Clark explained. My blood ran cold as those images played out in my mind: a man being forcibly brought back from a violent death in a robotic body not his own, said man being extensively experimented upon for reasons he knows little about, and that man being someone I cared deeply about… Dr. Clark was falling from grace quickly in my eyes.

"We're keeping him drugged while we experiment on him, since he's in so much pain all the time. That, and he hardly remembers who he is half the time. It's not something I'm proud of doing, and I can understand if you hate me after this Ferishteh, but I'm afraid I had no choice," Dr. Clark finished, a morose tone in her voice. I sent her a steely-eyed glare; how could she do this?! She cared about Frank just as much as we all did, this was just horrible. Naomi would never have stood for this if she knew what was going on, she would've definitely done something. I just couldn't believe it; my abhorrence was immeasurable.

"Of course you had a choice. There's ALWAYS a choice," I growled, "And you made the wrong one." With that, I turned on my heel and stormed out of the room. I just needed to shoot something now, or maybe stab it, or possibly even kill it with my bare hands. And I did kill a marmot while out in the forest. I felt for the marmot's possible family, but right then I was too angry to care. A few hours or so of sitting by the side of a creek and staring at the rushing water I crossed by stepping stone many a time calmed me down again and brought the walls of my bubble back, though now Dr. Clark would never be the same in my eyes. It was dark by the time I went back to HQ, and when I did arrive back Berthold came bounding down the hall with his tail wagging.

"Whoa- what is it Bertie?" I asked as he ran around me in circles. He paused to point ahead down the hall before bounding off in that direction. I followed him at a brisk walk, since he wasn't going fast enough that it required me to run. He lead me back to where Raven, Mantis and Liquid all were, and when I got there I could seed that Raven and Mantis were back from Liquid's mind, if not looking a little disoriented. I smiled a bit; things looked good, so maybe the mental retrieval had gone well. But then again, Berthold seemed happy, and he didn't like Liquid…

"Hey, glad to see you two back among the living," I said cheerfully. "How'd it go?"

"Well, we got him back, which I guess is good news for _you_ since you're the only person who can tolerate him," Mantis replied, rubbing his temples like he had a headache. "He should be up in a little bit." I looked over to Liquid's unconscious form on the nearby bed with a bigger smile at that news. We had to do this in my room since nobody wanted to go in Liquid's or Mantis's and I didn't want to intrude on Raven's privacy by using his.

"And I think we learned why Liquid is… Liquid, among other things," Raven added, also looking over at the blonde. At this I quirked an eyebrow, my smile falling.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Ah, this is gonna take a LONG time," Mantis sighed. And so my two comrades began to explain to me the long tale that blew me away and turned my world upside-down. Apparently Liquid wasn't really Saladin's son, but rather a clone. After he was heavily injured in Malaysia and put into a coma, some of Saladin's cells were combined with a donor female egg to make eight embryos, two of which would become Solid and Liquid Snake. There was a third clone, but Mantis and Raven didn't figure out what happened to him. They were born to a surrogate mother that never saw them again.

Snake stayed in America while Liquid was sent off to England, and a few years later Saladin would follow him there to make sure he was put through strenuous military training and given a classical education. Saladin continuously egged him on by basically telling him that Snake was the better clone through a series of lies that only worked because Liquid wasn't paying a bit of attention in eighth grade biology. During the Gulf War and all of his years with the air force, Liquid was widely known for being a soldier almost on par with Saladin himself. Although he _was _sort of pushing it when he took on an entire squadron of fighter jets all on his own, _unarmed_.

Liquid survived being sucked into a jet turbine in that fight (though somehow he still won), but just barely. When he finally recovered from his injuries there were gigantic holes in his memory, blocking out quite a bit of the important things that made up his reputation. It was far too dangerous to try and make him remember at the moment, so Raven and Mantis had to leave those spots alone for the time being.

"So wait, if Liquid doesn't remember any of that, then who told you all this?" I asked after taking a minute or so to get over the initial shock of all that. Mantis and Raven exchanged glances, seeming to be unsure if they should tell me. And it seemed specific to only me.

After several seconds, the two of them turned their eyes back to me and said in unintentional unison, "Big Boss." I froze up on the spot. A billion questions whizzed about my head as my breathing became shallower. I could tell I was paling considerably. I couldn't take the shock of that…

"It wasn't the _real _Big Boss, Wolf," Raven commented, "Just a compilation of Liquid's memories of him, or so he claimed." I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding.

"Jesus, woman, get _over _him already," Mantis grumbled. I shot him a dirty look, but right then Liquid began to stir. I rushed almost instinctively to Liquid's side as he opened his eyes and slowly sat up straight.

"Well, time for _me _to leave. I've had enough of him for one day," Mantis declared, walking out of the room at a very fast pace since he was so eager to get away from Liquid.

"Hey, Liquid. Glad to have you back. How are you feeling?" I asked with a gentle smile. Liquid clutched his forehead, looking a little dizzy for some reason, before looking over at me with his own, half-hearted smile.

"I'm alright, a little out of it though," Liquid replied. "I caught a trip down memory lane with those two and the imaginary one-eyed monster while they were in my head, and I get the gist of some of the important things. Still not one-hundred percent, I'm afraid."

I chuckled a little bit before giving Liquid another sympathetic smile and saying, "I'm sure you'll get it all back eventually, I know it." I knew I was only feeding his infatuation with me via my kindness, but for some reason I didn't care as much as I probably should've. Berthold bounded through the door right then, and after several minutes came rushing back dragging Octopus by the foot- something Octopus was _not _pleased with- while Ocelot followed behind with an amused expression at Octopus's suffering.

"Goddammit Wolf, I _hate _your fucking _dog!!_" Octopus yelled as Berthold dragged him through the door and he managed to break free. Berthold growled at him before walking up to me for praise. I laughed a little bit and scratched him behind the ears, calling him a 'good boy'.

"So the monster dragged Octopus here to show him that Liquid's alright, eh?" Ocelot wondered, noticing Liquid as he mentioned him. "Looks like he enjoys our pain a lot more than he lets on."

"He always enjoys _your _pain Ocelot," I replied with a glare. "Mostly because you're a colossal douche to him all the time."

"Why would I be _nice_ to a monster?" Ocelot shot back. Berthold growled at him, and I would've too if I were in a mood for growling.

"For the last time Ocelot, he's not a monster, he's a wolf!" I snapped.

"Same thing," Ocelot retorted with a smirk. _God _did I want to hit him again! Right then- as if to stop the fighting- Colonel Campbell appeared in the doorway. We all looked to him, except for Octopus, who was busy trying to get himself off of the floor.

"Campbell? What is it?" I asked, braving to break the silence.

"The president's on the line… and he wants to talk with Ocelot," Campbell responded. Nearly all of our eyes widened in surprise, and I exchanged a questioning glance with Raven. This was more than a little bit suspicious.

Ocelot left the room without a word, and when both he and Campbell were gone I crossed my arms over my chest and said, "Am I the only one disturbed by this?"

"By what?" Liquid asked, getting to his feet with a little effort.

"Think about it, _Ocelot_- the number one sneakiest, back-stabbiest weasel of all time- is having a private conversation with the _president of the United States_," I replied. "You think they're exchanging tips on revolver maintenance? This is definitely _very _bad."

"Oh come on, why would the president be conspiring with Ocelot about anything? He's the president, he- basically- does what he wants," Liquid commented.

"You haven't been your usual, laid-back self these last couple days, Wolf," Raven mentioned.

"Yeah, you're not normally this paranoid," Liquid agreed.

"Well, this isn't _normal_, if you haven't noticed," I snapped.

"Dollface, I drink blood to turn into other people. Nothing is _ever _normal here," Octopus commented as he lit a cigarette. I let out a grunt of frustration, _now_ I wasn't being listened to instead of just being force-fed lies!

"Well I don't know about you, but I'll be keeping a close eye on Ocelot," I declared. That exact same day, Ocelot left for Washington DC on the president's orders. And the next day, something happened that would _not _sit well with Mantis. The Pentagon developed 'Psychic Insulation', or anti-telepathy nanotechnology for the higher ups in the government. The president was the first to get them, and then Ocelot. Mantis ranted about it the entire day, mostly to me for some reason, pissed as all hell. I could care less about the threats to Mantis's job security, but the fact that Ocelot had gotten these was not making a good case for him.

The highlights of the day after that began with hearing we'd be getting an extremely important mission from President George Sears himself who'd be personally briefing us on the situation. The least I knew was that it had something to do with the Russian mafia, which brought back fond memories. However, when looking around for Campbell to ask him if animal species not native to the area were free game for me to practice shooting on, when I got close I was nearly knocked over by Liquid running for his life in the opposite direction with a look of complete terror on his face. I blinked several times in shock before proceeding on to finding Campbell a few more feet down the hall in the company of the president himself.

"Ah, Wolf. President Sears, this is our best sharpshooter, Sniper Wolf," Campbell said, turning to the president. I was hardly listening, however, because I was too busy staring at the president like a deer in headlights. And why wouldn't I be? He looked _exactly _like Saladin, plus or minus a few years and an eye. This was worse than seeing a ghost, and it felt like I was going to faint… before either the president or Campbell could say a thing I went running in the opposite direction even faster than Liquid had, and now had a good idea why he had gone running too. I had to hyperventilate against a far away wall for nearly a half and hour, which coincidentally made me right on time for the briefing since it was nearby. I beat myself up again and again for not being strong enough to forget Saladin, since now it was getting in the way of my job more than usual. This was simply ridiculous…

Nearly all of us were at the briefing as Sears took Campbell's usual place at the head of the room near a map of South Africa. Mantis wasn't there, which puzzled us all greatly, but wasn't something we were too concerned about.

"Lady and gentlemen, the information I am about to disclose to you is extremely classified," Sears began. "As you are all aware, the state department has been attempting for several years to get Russian officials to crack down on the spread of Soviet nuclear warheads left unaccounted for after the end of the Cold War…" I barely paid attention to anything else, because I was busy trying to keep myself breathing. I could tell that I most likely looked like I was about to be sick, and I wasn't sure if I wasn't or not. I briefly wondered if this was the third clone of Saladin that Mantis and Raven had mentioned, but I couldn't focus on that for too long. I actually felt like I was going to be sick at this point.

"Hey, Raven, is it just me or is Wolf _scared_ of the president?" Liquid whispered. Huh, so I looked frightened instead. Looks like my initial hypothesis was incorrect…

"Hm, must be because he looks a lot like your father," Raven replied. "She had a… uhr, 'thing' for Big Boss a while back, and since he died any mention of him makes her freeze up like she's been caught in a glacier."

"I thought she only fell in love with guys she was about to kill," Liquid commented. Now I wonder who told him that… probably Ocelot. Now I _really _wanted to hit the Russian wannabe-cowboy.

"Your father would be the exception that proves the rule," Raven said. I glanced over at Liquid, and I could tell what he was thinking just by his face; written all over his green eyes was _'Don't _I _look like Big Boss?'_. I felt a pang of guilt again for comparing him to his father so very often, and for feeding his infatuation, but I returned my attention to the briefing and was actually able to listen this time.

"Given the ever-growing influence of the mafia throughout the Russian government, we've decided that the best means to our end is a somewhat unorthodox approach- we intend to conduct direct negotiations with the mafia chieftains themselves. Oddly, the mob council insisted on my being there in person at this meeting," Sears explained. Ocelot's hand shot up immediately.

"Sorry if I'm stating the obvious here, but you'd have to be a complete idiot or a pansy to agree to that," Ocelot stated with an irate tone to his voice. I couldn't agree more.

"Of course! Besides the fact that these men are wanted criminals, there are any number of insurgent groups who'd be lining up to take a shot at me. I'd be lucky to leave breathing," Sears said. "That's why Octopus is going in my place." Octopus's eyes widened and immediately he gasped… and swallowed his cigarette from the violent intake of breath. Octopus coughed and sputtered for a few minutes as the cigarette burnt his throat and blocked his windpipe at the exact same time. We all looked on with painful grimaces.

After Octopus stopped coughing- and apparently swallowed the cigarette, since I didn't see him cough it back up- he regained his breath and asked, "Uh, sir, may I have a brief moment?"

"Of course," Sears replied.

"Well, even though my codename is- strictly speaking- _Decoy_ Octopus, that doesn't mean that I myself necessarily serve _as _a decoy," Octopus explained. "In the _canon fodder _sense of the term."

"Octopus, I really wish there were another way. But there's not, so get over it and take it like a man," Sears snapped. Octopus let out a heavy sigh, and again Sears reminded me of Saladin. Seems I would have to endlessly remind myself on this mission of who was and wasn't him…

"Now, I'll be feeding lines to Octopus and monitoring the proceedings as needed, but the rest of you need to give him backup and keep an eye on the mafia," Sears instructed.

"Question? Why are we looking at a map of South Africa? Aren't we going to Russia?" Raven asked. He brought up a good point, what was with the map?

"Actually, the neutral site we've agreed to is a remote installation in South Africa," Sears replied, "Coincidentally, at the same sight ten or so years ago, FOXHOUND C.O. Big Boss instigated the Outer Heaven Incident." Immediately I was snapped out of my emotional issues by suspicion; why in the world were we going to Outer Heaven? I could see that suspicion on the faces of most of my comrades, even Liquid who probably barely remembered it. Though Ocelot looked just fine with that. What the hell was going on? Us suspicious members convened after the briefing to discuss this.

"Alright Wolf, you were right about something going on," Raven sighed. I smirked, glad to have them seeing things my way now.

"Well thank you for finally realizing it Raven," I replied.

"So wait, Outer Heaven was where my old man tried to start a new world order with a Metal Gear, wasn't it?" Liquid asked. Metal Gear had been the initial WMD Solid Snake defeated, a bipedal, walking, nuclear-equipped tank. I'm glad that Liquid didn't forget _that_, since it was pretty damn hard to forget.

"Yep, and your brother blew the thing to hell," Octopus replied, lighting a new cigarette. Liquid narrowed his eyes and muttered something under his breath; it seemed he remembered how much he hated his brother, if anything.

"Hell of a coincidence that they're having mafia talks there," Liquid mentioned, crossing his arms over his chest as he glared at Sears and Ocelot who were talking a ways down the hall.

"There _are _no coincidences with Ocelot involved," Raven declared, "They're pulling something behind our backs. We ought to have Mantis peek inside his mind to figure out what it is." Right then Mantis came walking up the hall, looking pissed with a rather large bag over his shoulder.

"Ah, speak of the devil," Octopus commented.

"Glad to know you think as highly of me as I think of you, Octopus," Mantis shot back, stopping to glare at the disguise-master.

"Listen, Mantis, we need you to read Ocelot's mind for us," Raven said, getting down to brass tacks right there.

"I'm afraid not," Mantis replied curtly.

"Why?" Liquid asked with a raised eyebrow.

"_First_ of all, Ocelot has anti-telepathy nanotech. Second, I _quit_," Mantis answered sharply. Once again, another shock delivered to me today. That was oddly jarring for me, seeing as I had worked with him the longest and had actually grown accustomed to the strange psychic.

"Say wha-?! Why?" I asked.

"God, people need to stop asking me that- with this 'psychic insulation' stuff I won't be able to do my job, which pisses me off quite a bit. I told you all this Wolf, so good riddance to all of you," Mantis snapped. He stormed off with a frown hidden by his mask, and we all stared after him with surprised expressions.

"… Well, that plan was a bust," Raven grumbled.

"Looks like we'll have to play along with this scheme to figure out what it is," Liquid commented. I nodded, as much as I didn't like that idea or the fact that Mantis was leaving, it was all we had. Octopus of course tried to use this as an excuse to get out of being used as a meat shield, but Sears said that the mission would continue even without Mantis. That evening we got straight on to our plane and were on our way to Outer Heaven quicker than you could say 'Ancient Conspiracies' a few dozen times. During that flight, Liquid approached me with a nervous expression. He was going to ask me a question he both didn't like and already knew the answer to, and through that deduction I figured out what that question was before he had even asked it.

"Wolf, I want to know…" Liquid began, scratching the back of his head. I turned from looking out the window to looking up at him, since I was seated and he wasn't. A feeling of dread pervaded my system, but hell if I was gonna show it.

"What is it?" I asked, trying to keep my tone neutral.

"Well… How _exactly _did you feel about my father?" Liquid questioned, sitting next to me and looking me straight in the eyes; behind the surface of nervous curiosity I could see a hopeless longing… I swear to God, someone could've stabbed me and I wouldn't have known the difference between that and what I felt right now. Suddenly I felt absolutely terrible for everything I had done to Liquid until now, and I lost another part of my bubble that had been deteriorating slowly but surely.

"… Well, I suppose I cared for him quite a bit," I replied, dodging around the truth to avoid hurting him more. That course of action fell flat on his face as I identified a flicker of recognition in Liquid's eyes. He knew, and he already knew before he asked me. I could tell he just wanted to be proven wrong… He murmured "I see…" under his breath before leaving, and when I was sure he was gone I buried my face in my hands. God, I had never hated myself any more than I did right now. I couldn't let go of the past and a man who was already dead, and I was hurting those in my present by doing so. I just wanted to get over Saladin and get on with my life, but it seemed that another part of me was going to keep that wish from being granted for as long as it could.

We landed in Outer Heaven early in the morning, and oddly enough it was overcast and sort of cold. Definitely not weather I expected from South Africa. Liquid, Raven and I left the plane first (Ocelot and Octopus had a few more things to take care of), all with our weapons loaded and ready in case someone tried anything funny. All of us (even Ocelot and Octopus) were connected by wireless radio so that we would be able to contact each other and listen in on the meeting. We had a feeling the Russians would do something similar. Raven, Liquid and I all stood before the entrance to the 'fortress' with similar expressions.

"So, this is it…" I murmured.

"Big Boss's fortress 'Outer Heaven'," Raven muttered as well.

"Where he tried to start another world war and usher in a new age of human history," Liquid said. The three of us then looked at each other with mutual faces of disbelief. The once proud compound lay in a state of desolation and disrepair, which was expected, seeing as it had been abandoned for quite a while. But really, we were expecting a little bit more from the place once belonging to Saladin and all of his mercenaries. It was a little sad, actually. We all let out a shudder before entering the compound. Raven took a post on the far eastern side while I scouted around the rooftops. Liquid would be with me, since I really didn't trust him alone.

"Alright, this guard tower has a good view of the meeting room. It's the most obvious sniper position," I said after I made up my mind, pointing to the guard tower in question.

"So we'll be up there?" Liquid asked.

"Pff, of course not! We'll let _their _sniper have that one," I replied before turning to a nearby building and pointing up at the roof. "We'll be on that roof there. It has a worse view of the meeting, but I've been in trickier spots. Plus, I'll have a good view of the guard tower."

I turned to Liquid with a smirk and continued, "So I'll be better hidden _and _have a free shot at their sniper if things go south." Liquid smirked as well.

"Very sneaky Wolf. I like it," Liquid commented.

"Well, I'm not just a pretty face with perfect aim," I remarked.

Right then Raven's voice came in over the radio; "If you're done flirting with him Wolf, then the two of you had better get in position. The Russians are here." I immediately blushed from a bit of embarrassment and indignation at Raven's comment, but he was right, so I didn't try to assert that he wasn't. In a minute or so, Liquid and I had made it to the top of the roof and I was setting up my position. Liquid had already maneuvered himself so that he wouldn't be seen, so he was just looking down at Octopus- already in full disguise as Sears- and Ocelot while they did whatever it was they were doing. I briefly wondered if Liquid could even hear what they were saying down there.

After five or ten minutes, Liquid randomly asked me, "Wolf, do you know of anyone by the name of Sergei Gurlukovich?"

"Yeah, he's the chief of the Gurlukovich Private Army. Why?" I answered.

"Well a rather large Russian man by that name seems to be pulverizing Ocelot," Liquid remarked. I abandoned my position to slide over to Liquid and look down from the roof. Sure enough, Gurlukovich was beating Ocelot into the ground. Though I was too high up to see details, I definitely recognized him. Gurlukovich was _very _patriotic, and I knew he had known Ocelot, so it was pretty likely that Octopus had let it slip that Ocelot was working for us. I knew something like that wouldn't sit well with Gurlukovich.

I contacted Raven on the radio and said, "Raven, it seems that Ocelot's being beaten into the ground by Sergei Gurlukovich."

"Best news I've heard all day," Raven replied. I smirked, come to think of it it _was _fun to watch Ocelot suffer. But in fifteen more minutes, the meeting had begun and Ocelot had gotten out of that merely with some injuries. Liquid and I watched the meeting and listened in on it, both bored right away and a little confused. Bored because we could really care less about this missile talk and confused because the Russian accents were nearly impossible to understand.

A little ways in, Liquid whispered, "Did you see that?"

"What?" I whispered back.

"I thought I saw… I'll go check it out," Liquid said, getting up and making his way down from the roof.

"Don't get lost," I mentioned before Liquid got to the ground. I kept my eyes on the meeting, but turned on a comm. link to Liquid's radio so I could hear what was going on with him. It would definitely be a hell of a lot more interesting than the meeting. I kept looking at him every second or so, however.

"Hey you're a Gurlukovich mercenary, right? Have you seen a blonde girl wearing white around here?" I heard Liquid say to- as far as I could deduce- a Gurlukovich mercenary. My eyebrows furrowed; blonde girl in white… did he mean Manic Rat?

"_Nyet_," I heard the mercenary reply.

"Alright, I'll take that as a no…" Liquid muttered before moving on. I was going to roll my eyes before remembering that he probably forgot any Russian he knew.

Suddenly I heard him snap after a pause, "Well forgive me for getting _sucked into a jet turbine!! _Not my fault that left me with a memory full of more holes than a slice of Swiss cheese." My eyebrows furrowed more; who was he talking to? I looked over at him, and he was all alone.

"Would you shut up about him?!" Liquid continued after a beat. My confusion grew even more.

"Ugh, this _again_!!" Liquid groaned after a slightly longer pause. I looked over at him again just in time to see a blur of black, white and blonde sneak past him. There was no doubt it was Rat. Liquid turned just a moment too late as Rat zoomed through a pair of nearby doors into a large building.

"Wha-?! Who _is _this bitch anyway?!" Liquid snapped to himself as he followed after her. I tried to keep an eye on the meeting, but this proved much more interesting than I thought.

Another pause, and Liquid snapped once more, "Oh shut up, I'm trying to work here!"

"Now, let's see what's in-" Liquid trailed off as he opened the doors, and my attention was divided equally between Liquid staring in shock through the doors to that large building and the meeting that seemed to be going nowhere. Thankfully Octopus called for a break in the meeting, so I diverted my full attention to Liquid as he walked inside the building.

"It's… That's… No, impossible," Liquid breathed. I briefly wondered whether to follow after him or listen for a little while more.

After a pause, Liquid proclaimed, "It can't be, not _your _Metal Gear. You took that to Zanzibarland!" My breath hitched a little bit as I considered who he just might be talking to, but I shook my head; it was absolutely impossible. But now I had to deal with the other part of that statement. Metal Gear?! Why was there a Metal Gear here?!

"But who in the world would be building a Metal Gear out in this dump?" Liquid asked, voicing my thoughts exactly. I could hear him walking up some metal steps, but made very little of it.

"Man, you could do a lot of damage with this guy," Liquid remarked after a slightly shorter beat.

A long silence went by before Liquid let out a low growl. My confusion thickened, so I started making my way down from the roof, but slowly.

Right then I caught sight of something- or someone- crawling out of a window on the very top of that building and disappearing from sight, right as a low beeping began in the background of Liquid's radio feed. I narrowed my eyes; his skin color didn't match Crab's, so this had to be Jaguar. Liquid walked back down the ground, which I could tell from hearing him go back down those stairs.

"Huh? What's this…" Liquid wondered, picking something metallic up from I-don't-know-where that jingled slightly. "Hey, it's your old dog-tags! 'Big Boss.'" I paused for a moment, my eyes widening, but I assured myself that I would never get any farther than this if I froze up at the mere mention of Saladin. So I kept going.

Then Liquid exclaimed after a longer pause, "Solid Snake, Solid Snake! I'm absolutely _sick _of hearing how wonderful Solid Snake is! Why do you like him so damn much?! He fought against everything you stood for! He _killed you _for Christ's sake!!" I hit the ground right then and almost started running with my rifle over my shoulder. I _needed _to know what was going on, and that beeping sound was getting louder and a little faster too…

Another pause, and Liquid declared, "Ohhh, that's it. It is _on_." My pace quickened just a bit…

Yet another pause, and Liquid continued, "You and your precious Solid Snake can kiss my ass for all I care, because I'm going to be number one." I sped up as the beeping did, and I could see Gurlukovich on a path that converged with mine, looking quite worried. Did this mean… the Russians _must _be making that Metal Gear, I was sure of it.

Pause. "Oh yes I can! I'll shove that candle down his throat and light his lungs on fire! And I'm not just going to outdo him. I'm going to outdo _you_! I'm going to get in this Metal Gear, track down Solid Snake, and I'm going to crush his body into the dust!!" Liquid shouted. Right then, both Gurlukovich and I flung the doors open as Rat fell from the ceiling with a Kukri knife in her right hand. My eyes widened; for normal combat, Rat used Bowie knives… she saved that knife for assassination only. Faster than I could process, Rat stabbed Liquid straight through the chest, just opposite his heart. Liquid's eyes widened as well, the shock clearly overwhelming him. My breathing was growing shallow, and the beeping grew louder and faster than ever before.

"I have a problem or two with that course of action," Rat said calmly. "One, _I _am going to kill Solid Snake to finally satiate my vendetta against him. It'll be in a fight to the death, fair and square. Two, no one is going to use Metal Gear for anything. Not ever." The beeping reached its max with a click… and the Metal Gear exploded behind Liquid and Rat, pieces of it flying everywhere. I shielded myself with my arms, some shrapnel whizzing by me and Gurlukovich but never hitting. I lowered my arms right as Rat pulled her knife out of Liquid and he slumped to his knees, blood pouring like a waterfall from the hole in his chest. My eyes grew even wider, if that was even possible.

"Keep hell warm for me, Liquid Snake," Rat said, holstering her knife and pulling out two of her standard knives as she walked away from the burning remains of Metal Gear and towards the exit. I could hear Raven, Ocelot, Octopus, and- surprisingly- Mantis contact me over the radio, but I didn't pay attention to a thing they said. My mouth opened a fraction as I shook my head slowly, thinking over and over 'This Can't Be Happening'. After a second or two I was able to speak.

"Allah… Liquid? …Liquid! _LIQUIIIIIIIIIIIID!!!!!_"


	10. Chapter 10: Vixen

_LAST TIME, Liquid made a declaration to his imaginary daddy, the Russians were up to no good, Jaguar blew up the Russian Gear, Rat stabbed Liquid, Wolf parodied something very well known in the series and Crab continued to be mostly ineffectual! NOW, FOR THE THRILLING CONCLUSION!! Well, if it's thrilling or not is up to you dudes and dude-ettes. I own nothing, except for what I do own. Which is startlingly little. And I'm sorry about my filler-licious conversation between Liquid and Wolf in the middle. I just _really _wanted to write a conversation, see if I could do it… _

_**-Vixen-**_

I could swear on Saladin's grave that I was nearly hyperventilating with fear. Who wouldn't be when a dear comrade had just been mortally wounded, a large machine had been blown up and was now burning nearby, and the one who stabbed that comrade was heading right towards you?! I took a shuddering breath as Rat came nearer and told myself to pull it together, steeling my gaze and glaring at her. Sergei Gurlukovich was also glaring at her, most likely blaming Rat for the destruction of his Metal Gear. I immediately switched the PSG-1 to a firing position, my finger resting on the trigger. Rat stopped a meter or so away from the two of us before getting in a CQC-esque stance.

"Both of you, get out of the way. Or do you want a personal encore of my performance with Liquid?" Rat growled. Neither Gurlukovich nor I moved a muscle, determined not to let her get away. Suddenly, the sound of heavy footsteps sounded behind us and the shadow of Vulcan Raven darkened the doorway; the barrel of his _very _large_ gun- _a portable modification of a M61A1 20mm multi-barreled autocannon- protruded between Gurlukovich and I.

"I agree. Sir, Wolf, please stand aside," Raven requested calmly. Gurlukovich edged over a few feet to the right, his glare falling when he noticed Raven, and I followed suit. Raven walked the few feet forward necessary to make it inside the doorway.

I turned to Gurlukovich and mentioned, "I recommend leaving, sir. It's going to get _very_ loud." I didn't listen or look to see if Gurlukovich followed my request, instead turning back to Raven and Rat.

"Raven, I can handle her-" I began, before Raven cut me off.

"I'm certain of that. But, I want a shot against this woman," Raven interrupted. I smirked a bit; though he was calm, he still loved battle as much as any of us.

"I don't think we've been introduced. My name is Vulcan Raven," Raven said rather cordially. I marveled at that; Raven never seemed to get too angry, not even in battle.

Rat smirked and said back, "My former codename as a FOXHOUNDer was Manic Rat, so you can call me that." She then looked down at the M61's barrel (or should I say barrel_s_) with raised eyebrows.

"That's quite the impressive weapon," Rat mentioned with a grin before getting back into stance, "Let's see what it can do."

Raven smirked and remarked, "Gladly." I stepped back a few feet as the M61 whirred to life and the loud roar of '_DAKKADAKKADAKKA_' ripped through the others sounds as the bullets tore through the air towards Rat. Rat's eyes narrowed and immediately she started running just ahead of the cloud of gunfire, leaping around it and off of the walls. I grinned, glad to see that at least there was something not even _she _could block.

Raven narrowed his eyes a bit as they flicked over to Liquid for a second, smirk falling, before he asked just over the sound of the machine gun and the growling fire nearby, "So, you were the one who stabbed Liquid, am I correct?"

"Yeah, that was me! I stabbed him right in the back," Rat replied mid-handspring.

"It seems that you left fighting with honor behind along with your position in FOXHOUND," Raven remarked bitterly. Rat let out a harsh bark of a laugh as she did a brief wall-run and sprang off the wall to dodge the gunfire.

"Oh please, I was a sneaking and assassination specialist! My job was to hide and kill quickly from the darkness," Rat scoffed, "And besides, Liquid was weak. He wouldn't have lasted five seconds against me in a real fight." I gritted my teeth and let out a low growl at that; I had seen what Liquid could do, and so had she. Calling him weak was just a blatant lie. Rat's elaborate dodging maneuvers continued on for several more minutes, leaping off of the walls and running across them like gravity didn't even affect her. She jumped higher and higher up the walls of the Metal Gear hangar as the 'chase' continued, sometimes swinging on broken beams that had been supporting the Metal Gear when she couldn't quite make it to the wall in one jump. I had to admit, she still held all her grace and skill after all these years.

Rat ran across the wall with Raven's bullets right on her trail, several dozen feet up by this point. She knew the consequences if she fell; however, the M61's bullets could only reach so far, and she was getting to the limit of that reach. Rat used the wall as a springboard to leap to the breaking cable holding up a support beam and shimmied up it faster than I could process before leaping off of that and onto a support girder for the ceiling of the hangar itself.

Raven narrowed his eyes, took his finger off the trigger and muttered, "Tricky girl. She's just a few feet out of my reach."

I maneuvered the PSG-1 so that Rat was right in my crosshairs and hissed, "But she's _not _out of mine."

Rat then shouted (since we wouldn't hear her any other way), "Damn, this was one hell of a workout! You're not nearly as useless as Mantis and Ocelot, Raven. However, I have to move, so I'm finishing this!" Rat leapt off the girder, swung around it twice, and then launched herself off of it with knives poised to strike. She let out a battle cry and I gritted my teeth, waiting for the right moment to pull the trigger. But as Rat neared the ground and us, she was knocked off course by… a bloodstained trench coat? Both Raven and I looked over to Liquid; both of us were shocked to see him now on his feet, especially with the giant hole in his chest, but _damn _if Liquid wasn't pissed!

Rat threw the trench coat to the side after regaining her bearings, picking herself up off the ground to face down her attacker; she raced forward to attack Liquid, but he met her halfway with a powerful uppercut that sent her neck bending almost all the way backwards. I could hear several small bones breaking from here.

"ONE!!" Liquid shouted as Rat's blood came flying from her mouth.

Rat's head whipped back into position, but Liquid didn't give her an inch, hitting her with a left hook that most definitely broke something as he continued, "TWO!!"

Rat barely had time to process that blow as Liquid kneed her in the stomach and roundhouse-kicked her across the face opposite his left hook with another shout, "THREE, FOUR!!"

Rat staggered to the right, unable to catch her balance, but Liquid gave her no sympathy. He grabbed her by the arm and flung Rat all the way across the hangar and into the opposite wall with a mighty roar of "AND _FIVE_!!!" Rat hit the opposite wall _hard _with a pained cry, rebounding off of it and hitting the ground with exactly the same force. My eyes were wider than dinner plates; wow… that's the only word I could think of, 'wow'. I didn't need to look at Raven to figure out that he was almost as amazed as I was.

"See that?! Five seconds!! You'd better think twice next time you make a claim like that," Liquid yelled across the flames as Rat tried to pick herself up from the ground to no avail. He then turned to Raven with a trenchant glare.

"What are _you _looking at?" Liquid growled.

"Nothing!" Raven replied immediately. The rest of FOXHOUND- including Mantis, oddly- showed up right then as Raven went to retrieve Rat before she could get away again. I pitied them for having missed the action.

"What the hell-" Ocelot began, but I cut him off with, "Rat stabbed Liquid, then Liquid beat her."

"_Jesus_ Liquid, I can see through the hole in your chest," Octopus remarked with a semi-disgusted look on his disguised face. Liquid shrugged and let out a flippant grunt, obviously not caring too much about his grievous injury. To his credit, he had truly been through worse.

"Doesn't that hurt like a dirty rotten bitch?" Mantis wondered, seeming a little grossed out himself behind his obvious disbelief.

"Hey- where the hell did you come from? What are you doing here?" Octopus asked, giving Mantis a suspicious look.

"It's a long story. I'll tell you never," Mantis replied, shrugging the question off. I frowned a bit at him; I also wanted to know, but I knew hell would freeze over before he told us anything.

Raven walked back over to Liquid and said, "I'm sorry, but the middle-eastern one ran off with her before I could get close."

Liquid smirked and replied, "It's alright. I have a feeling she isn't going to mess around with _me _again."

"I don't buy this. You're telling me that Liquid- _Liquid_- beat that girl? Mantis and I couldn't even touch her, how could _Liquid_?" Ocelot questioned incredulously.

"_Beat _her Ocelot? He _trounced _her! With a gaping hole in his chest!" I replied.

Ocelot frowned deeper, walked up to Liquid and declared, "Well I call bullshit."

Liquid's smirk widened and he held Rat's kukri knife- still covered in his blood- up to Ocelot's throat. Ocelot's frown fell and Liquid asked, "Now where do you suppose I got this from?"

"_Fuck me_ that's a huge knife," Ocelot commented, eyes focused on the knife.

Liquid nodded, satisfied, before saying, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I must go commune with the dolphins."

As Liquid wandered away making surprisingly convincing dolphin noises, Ocelot commented, "Yeah, he's lost _way_ too much blood."

I turned to Octopus and asked, "Octopus, you have some of Liquid's blood, right?"

Octopus brightened up and replied, "Of course I do! I've got everyone's blood in jars, just in case. Why do you ask? Need me to get all this excess stuff? I mean, why let it go to waste?"

I glared at Octopus and snapped, "I was thinking we should put some of it _back in _him."

"I don't follow," Octopus noted rather dumbly. I rolled my eyes and expertly collected Liquid as he slipped in and out of consciousness, dragging him with me back to the exit of the building. Raven accompanied Liquid and I back to the plane, and Mantis caught up soon after. Ocelot and Octopus stayed behind for a little while to deal with the Russians, since I don't think they'd just leave after all of that, especially since they were only mid-summit. We were able to staunch the bleeding and temporarily bandage Liquid up for the trip back, and though I had a feeling that Dr. Clark would be able to fix him up just fine I was still worried for Liquid. But that was normal, he _was _my comrade; and that was all I would allow him to be for the time being.

One flight from South Africa to Maine, a few blood transfusions, some passive-aggressive glaring at Dr. Clark on my part and one hour later, we were all grouped around Liquid in the infirmary part of Dr. Clark's lab waiting to see if Liquid had even survived.

"Waste of perfectly good blood if you ask me," Octopus grumbled. He had long since reverted back to his normal form, which was a load off of my mind.

"We didn't," Raven remarked.

"So, being driven to the brink of death turns Liquid back into the badass he's supposed to be?" Ocelot wondered.

"Mostly just battle itself, but I suppose you can say that," I replied.

"I'll admit, he's got a talent. He doesn't die when he oughta," Mantis commented. I shot him a glare.

"If a near death experience is what he needs to get into the zone, then I'd be more than willing to-" Ocelot began, but we sure as well weren't going to let him continue.

"No," I snapped, cutting him off.

"Oh, come on-"

"No."

"Just a little-"

"_No_." Ocelot glared at me before muttering some things under his breath that I don't think I would care to hear.

"Enough, you two; he's waking up," Raven said. I looked over at Liquid as his eyes slowly opened; once again, my emotions overwhelmed me, but they did not compel me to slap Ocelot. Instead my relief and joy nearly forced me to hug Liquid tightly as he tried to sit up. I would've liked to slap Ocelot a second time, but this was good enough.

Liquid chuckled a little bit before saying in a tired voice, "Wolf, you didn't have to be so worried for me. I've survived worse, or so I've been told."

I backed off with a sheepish smile and replied, "Sorry. I'm just glad to see you okay… you did good back there. Your father would've been proud." I was a little astonished at the fact that I didn't automatically call Saladin just that at first, but I supposed that was a good sign.

"Really? That's… nice…" Liquid trailed off as he fell asleep again. I nearly forgot everyone was there and smiled gently at him; that fight had definitely taken its toll on Liquid, but I was glad to see that he was alright.

The next day, I had stopped by my room to get something-or-other; I can't really remember what I had originally been there to do, since what I am going to tell you after this sentence wiped my mind clean of all previous agendas. I had noticed something hanging on my doorknob, and was surprised to see it was a pair of rusted, beat-up dog tags. Something felt familiar about them, but it didn't hit me until I removed them and took a closer look. My breath hitched, and I could _feel _myself going white; the first thing I saw was the words "Big Boss".

_Liquid… Liquid found these in Outer Heaven. How did he hold onto them through all that? _I wondered, leaning against the wall opposite my door as I stared at Saladin's dog tags. I smirked a melancholy smirk. These tags had his date of birth, his blood type, his religion… they had more than he had ever told me about himself. It was a little sad that a pair of rusted metal tags on an equally rusted chain told me more about the man I loved than he ever did, but I suppose that made sense. Saladin never talked very much about himself.

I wondered for a moment why Liquid had left them on my door (or possibly had someone else do it, since Dr. Clark hadn't let him out of the infirmary yet). I felt another stab of guilt and other emotions I hadn't identified just yet. Of course I knew why; he knew exactly how much Saladin meant to me, how much he still did… I could tell, he probably hadn't wanted to at first. He had wondered why I couldn't feel that way about him, and why I still had to love a shadow. But something- maybe some_one_- convinced him that I should have these. I let out a heavy sigh, closing my eyes thoughtfully. I asked myself for the millionth time why I couldn't just move on, and the answer eluded me once more.

_I want to see the colors of the world in their full brilliance again. I want to feel things like I used to… I want to live! _I thought, looking up at the ceiling pleadingly. Something told me that I just wasn't ready yet, that I just wouldn't be able to handle it now. I wanted to hit that something for keeping me back. I slumped down into a sitting position, resting my head on my hands and staring ahead at my door. I wouldn't call what I was doing 'thinking', per se. I was just… sitting. Right then, Berthold walked up and regarded me with a confused expression. I smiled warmly at him, and right then I got an idea.

"Bertie, you see these?" I asked, getting to my knees and holding up Saladin's dog tags for him to see. He cocked his head to the side at the rusted tags.

I gently eased them onto his neck, and they fit just right when they got midway down. I continued, "These belonged to Saladin. You remember him? He had the long coat and the eye patch." Berthold shook his head, trying to get the tags off his neck. I laughed a little.

"Now, Berthold, I want you to keep these on and keep them safe. I know you might not like them, but you're going to have to deal with it. Can you do that for me, Bertie?" I asked. Berthold let out a sigh and nodded; I grinned, Berthold sometimes acted a bit too human for his own good.

I scratched him lovingly behind the ears and crooned, "That's my boy, Bertie. Thank you for doing this, you're a good wolf." Berthold's tail wagged and he leaned into my hand as I scratched his ears.

Things were uneventful for about three months, which we needed after all the excitement. Liquid's wound healed normally enough, though it hardly left a scar, and our missions were nothing to scream about. Liquid also seemed different; he was a little more intelligent, capable and somewhat more arrogant. Mantis took a look into his mind when I asked him about this, and he told me that the holes in Liquid's memories were filling back in at an _agonizingly _slowpace.

That was good, yes, but it wasn't good enough. On the practical side, we would function much better as a team with Liquid as his supposedly-badass self; on my side, I wanted to know Liquid for who he really was, and not for what his mind had convinced him to be. After those three long, uneventful months, the next round of excitement and madness started off in a rather mundane way.

"This _sucks_," Liquid groaned as the two of us drove down the dirt road away from the base. FOXHOUND had since gotten another normal-looking car, so we were using that one.

"Oh quit whining," I snapped with a roll of my eyes.

Liquid turned to me and shot back, "I think I have a right to whine this time, Wolf! We're Special Forces operatives in an elite unit created by who the US thinks is the best soldier ever! And the best Campbell can give us after a whole week without missions is _picking someone up from the bloody airport!_"

"For the record, Liquid, _nobody _outside of FOXHOUND would ever be able to get here on their own, let alone one of Dr. Clark's new lab assistants," I commented. Indeed, Campbell had sent Liquid and me on a seemingly trivial mission to escort one of Dr. Clark's newest assistants back to the base.

"You have a point. The route here is too bloody complicated for anyone to figure out," Liquid muttered.

I smirked and noted, "And once again we end with me being right."

"Oi, don't get pretentious. You're not _always _right," Liquid countered.

"Oh wait, I got that wrong," I said, "I meant that _you _are always _wrong_."

Liquid glared at me and remarked, "Try that again, Wolf. You saw how I decked Rat, I'm not above hitting a woman if it's necessary."

I glared back and snapped, "You'd better be above hitting _this _woman."

"And why's that? Will you hit back?" Liquid scoffed arrogantly.

I smiled sweetly and replied just that way, "Now that's just immature… I'd drive us into a ravine or throw you out of the car while we're driving at seventy miles-per-hour."

Liquid stared at me for a few seconds before narrowing his eyes and remarking, "Touché, Wolf. Touché."

After a minute or two, Liquid asked, "So, how did you come across Berthold anyways? It must be hard to get your hands on a domesticated wolf."

"There's no such thing as a 'domesticated' wolf, Liquid," I remarked, "They are naturally wild creatures that can't be tamed. I merely befriended Berthold."

"Right, I'll have to remember that," Liquid said semi-sarcastically. I could tell he was rolling his eyes, but thought nothing of it. I _did _sound a little weird saying that, so I didn't blame him.

"To answer your question, I hit him with my car on accident a few years back. I fixed up his wounds, and he decided to hitch a ride with me. He's been with me ever since," I replied. Liquid raised an eyebrow, looking a little disbelieving.

"… What?" I asked.

Liquid answered with a shrug, "Well, I just kind of assumed that since you got a _wolf _of all things as your pet- sorry, 'animal companion'- that the story of you two meeting would be a little more…" Liquid paused as he tried to find the right word to use, "A little more grandiose."

"Not every story is an epic one," I commented as we finally got onto the main road and I took a left turn.

"But wouldn't the world be much more exciting if they were?" Liquid wondered with a grin.

"More _dangerous_, rather," I spat, "All action stories have a dark underside people don't talk about. As soldiers, we should know that well enough."

"Must you be so cynical?" Liquid asked, raising an eyebrow.

"It comes from having been smack-dab in the middle of a war most of my life," I said.

Liquid looked away and said to himself, "Right, the 'Kurd' thing." I raised an eyebrow and turned to him with an accusing look.

"And just what do you mean by 'Kurd thing'?" I asked sharply.

"I didn't mean it in a bad way!" Liquid defended.

"I'm sorry, I know you didn't," I replied, "I always get defensive when my race or religion are brought up."

"Being a Muslim in these times, I don't see why you wouldn't," Liquid remarked. I chuckled a little and nodded in agreement.

Liquid let out a sigh and noted, "Religion just hasn't ever been for me. I don't mind it, but I don't think I'd ever practice it."

"I just hope that after you eventually get your memories back you don't become an evil atheist that goes around looking to burn Bibles," I joked. Liquid chuckled a bit as well, but our conversation ended as we made it to the airport. Liquid was oddly particular about where we parked, making sure it wasn't too far away or too close. Not too far away so that it'd be easy to find, and not too close so that it wouldn't get stolen. It seemed that Liquid had some neurotic tendencies, which was oddly enough not too surprising.

"So how are we supposed to find this person any way? Campbell didn't exactly describe them to us," Liquid asked.

I shrugged and replied, "Well, Campbell said that I'd recognize them, and then he winked at me…"

"Either you know them, or they have a _very _distinctive look," Liquid reasoned, "… I'd go with the latter, since we're picking up a lab rat." Liquid and I made our way towards baggage claim- since our 'intel' decreed that the plane had landed fifteen minutes ago- and were perfectly aware of all the strange looks we were getting; neither of us had changed into civilian clothes for this, so most of those stares were more than likely directed towards Liquid's general torso area. We hung around baggage claim for nearly an hour, Liquid beating up someone who looked at him funny and me nearly falling asleep during that time.

We were about to give up, and Liquid had to take a call from back at the base when I finally found them. Well, I didn't know that it was who we were looking for immediately. As Liquid walked over a few meters to talk with presumably Mantis, I spied something out of the corner of my eye… and my breath nearly stopped when I saw it. It couldn't be, it just couldn't; a few meters away, pulling a large black bag off of the conveyor belt with a look of frustration- possibly after waiting so long- was the girl I had once called 'Fox Pup'. It was Naomi Hunter. But now, she wasn't the pup that had disappeared all those years ago. No, Naomi had grown into a vixen, and she looked nearly as attractive as I did.

Naomi noticed me at nearly the same time as I noticed her. We stared at each other with surprised expressions from afar before casting aside our surprise for ecstatic glee; Naomi and I ran to each other with barely contained joy and collided in a tight and enthusiastic hug, just like when I had come back to FOXHOUND when I was eighteen.

"Ohmigod, Ferishteh! I've missed you, it's been way too long!" Naomi exclaimed.

I laughed and replied, "Yeah, nearly five years! How are you, how've you been? What are you doing here, and why didn't you tell me beforehand?"

"Whoa Ferishteh, one question at a time," Naomi laughed, pulling back from the hug. I grinned sheepishly; I was just so happy to see my Vixen again, though I'd have to get used to calling her that.

"Well, I'm good. I've actually improved a lot with genetics and nanomachines," Naomi began. "Aaaand… I'm here because I'm Dr. Clark's new lab assistant! I didn't contact you or let Campbell tell you because I wanted it to be a surprise." My eyes widened and so did my smile; this just couldn't get any better!

"Really?! That's great! I just know that everyone's going to love you," I exclaimed. "Actually, probably only Vulcan Raven and Octopus will… Mantis might be happy-ish to see you again."

Naomi let out a little laugh before looking over my shoulder at Liquid and asking, "So, who's that?"

I glanced over at Liquid and answered, "Oh, that's Liquid Snake. He's our newest member, though he's definitely not a rookie."

Naomi's eyes narrowed and she remarked coldly, "Funny, he resembles another 'snake'…" I bit my lip nervously; she obviously would be more than put off by Snake after what he did, if she even knew, and even more so by what Dr. Clark did.

"Yeah… It is a _long _story. I'll tell you later, I promise," I said. Right then Liquid hung up the phone with a curse under his breath and walked up, not looking too pleased.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Well, I have good news and bad news," Liquid began, "The good news: we now have a helicopter. The bad news: Manic Rat, Acid Crab and Volatile Jaguar have attacked the base and we need to get back there _now_." I face-palmed with a groan; I was almost beginning to think they had backed off for good.

"What the- you _really _need to tell me what happened while I was gone," Naomi commented.

"This story isn't so long, thankfully," I remarked as the three of us immediately made our way out of the airport. I explained everything to Naomi, from their being spotted in Zanzibarland to their latest attack in Outer Heaven. Liquid drove the whole way back, claiming I drove too slow and we wouldn't make it there in time; we careened down the road at a dangerous velocity the entire time, frightening both Naomi and myself into silence the whole ride. I swear, Liquid broke several traffic laws and speed limits during that drive. It was like the car was driving itself out of control. We skidded to a halt a little ways down the dirt road as an explosion went off near the base.

"Alright, here's the plan," Liquid said as we all got out with weapons in hand (Liquid had leant Naomi a Desert Eagle for the time being), "Wolf, Naomi, go through the forest to where that explosion occurred. Wolf, if you find any of the ex-FOXHOUNDers, don't hesitate to engage them in combat. Naomi, provide any support you can."

"What are _you _doing then?" I asked, narrowing my eyes just a bit.

Liquid grinned and replied, "Well, I prefer to fight with the odds in my favor, so… I'm off to find something that will allow me to do just that." I smirked a little, but nodded and made my way into the forest in the direction of the explosion. Naomi followed close behind, her hands gripping the Desert Eagle tightly and holding it with grace even though it was a little big for a woman like her. We snuck through the woods in complete silence, but soon enough we were sure we didn't have to as another explosion sounded and when that died down deafening the roar of Raven's M61 replaced it.

I gestured for Naomi to stay back before getting to the edge of the trees to behold Raven and Octopus attempting to fight Jaguar in a clearing full of destroyed trees. Jaguar was constantly dodging their efforts, thought not with Rat's speed. He used evasion tactics like chaff and flash grenades to hide his position before detonating a bomb nearby Raven or Octopus that he had set up several minutes earlier. This was his tried and true tactic for when he was fighting and enemy that wouldn't let him get close. I narrowed my eyes; I needed to get out there, at least if only to assess the situation more accurately. Octopus neared my position, and with another gesture to Naomi to hold her position I pulled Octopus harshly by his arm into the trees and jumped out right as I did, taking his place next to Raven with the PSG-1 ready to fire.

"A-ha! So, Sniper Wolf decides to join us! I've been waiting to fight against you," the burned German called, poking his head out from behind the thick trunk of a tree with a grin better fitting a shark. I glared at him, not saying a word.

"Alright _Fe-rish-teh_, give me one hell of a show!" Jaguar shouted before pressing the button on his detonator. The entire row of trees on the south end of the clearing exploded, and both Raven and I had to shield ourselves from the flying bark and shrapnel.

"Alright, how has he been fighting so far?" I asked as Raven and I ran after Jaguar into the forest.

"He's running and blowing things up. Not much more to say," Raven replied irately, firing a large volley at Jaguar's assumed position before the tree exploded into a million pieces and we had to double back behind another one.

"Damn, that's what I thought," I growled as the tree we had used for cover promptly exploded above our heads and we regained Jaguar's trail, "This is his tactic when he can't fight at close range. It never fails." The two of us both fired at Jaguar as he ran right into our view, but we just triggered a line of flash grenades he set up without our noticing. I let out a grunt of frustration as I was temporarily blinded, but after blinking a few times Raven and I kept forward. All our attempts at trying to hit Jaguar were met with distractions and exploding trees, and a while in I could tell that Raven was getting frustrated. It was understandable, since Raven had fought against Jaguar once before and a stalemate like this was not unfamiliar to him.

As another tree exploded and we dove behind a safe one, Raven snapped, "We need a strategy. One different than this, because this one isn't working at all."

"Gimme a sec…" I muttered as I looked out from behind the tree to scan for Jaguar. "… Actually, I think I have something. Keep him busy, but don't leave from here." With that idea in mind, I snuck back to where Naomi and Octopus were.

"Come on, Naomi, I've got something I need you to do," I hissed.

Naomi nodded and was about to follow me, but Octopus griped, "So you need the new lab rat in this fight but not me?"

"Octopus… you're the _disguise specialist_. I don't think I need you in a fight," I remarked. Octopus grumbled under his breath as me and Naomi hurried back. Raven had held his position and was shooting at Jaguar, though the German threw the shaman for a loop every time one of his bullets even came close. I pulled Raven back behind the tree along with me and Naomi to explain my plan.

"Alright, Jaguar has a system. He's got his bombs on every other tree down this route that we've been on, and he's planted them in advance so that he can blow them up remotely, which is why he kept us on this route. The bombs are placed pretty high up, too. Naomi, I need you to get on Raven's shoulders so that you can shoot out the bombs before he can detonate them. And if there are any chaff or flash grenades along the ground you need to shoot those out too, you got me?" I ordered. Naomi nodded, though she didn't seem happy about being on Raven's shoulders.

"I'm going to stay back so that I can shoot Jaguar once you've got him cornered," I explained, "Raven, just shoot where I'm shooting." Raven nodded as well, and with no effort he was able to hoist Naomi onto his shoulders before she could chicken out on the idea. I quickly climbed up the tree and looked around for Jaguar, taking a few seconds to get him in my crosshairs since he was hiding. Raven chose that moment to plow back into the fight with Naomi on his shoulders looking for the first bomb. She quickly found it and shot it, disarming it before Jaguar's thumb could even ghost over the detonator's trigger.

I could see his eyes widen through my scope, said gesture distorting his burns. Jaguar began to run again, but Raven and Naomi just went running on after him, Naomi shooting down the bombs with a discerning eye and perfect aim while using Raven like a warhorse to carry her through battle. Jaguar cursed continually under his breath and possibly in German as Raven and Naomi chased him down, pissed off that his plan wasn't going how it was supposed to. My grin widened with every bomb shot down by Naomi, and at the last bomb I looked like a maniac.

"Looks like I know you too well, Jaguar," I hissed before pulling the trigger and sending a round right through Jaguar's knee. I got the other one before Jaguar could even cry out in pain, and Raven took it the extra mile, opening fire on Jaguar's legs and shooting them enough so that they weren't destroyed but pretty damn useless by this point. I dropped down from the tree and ran down to join up with Raven and Naomi. Naomi's face was flushed and she was breathing heavily from the excitement of being a part of the battle, the adrenaline pumping through her veins even though she didn't even land a hit on Jaguar himself.

Naomi slid down from Raven's shoulders and helped us drag Jaguar into the burned clearing so that we could better question him. We waited for Jaguar to stop slipping in and out of consciousness, and when Jaguar had gotten used to the pain, he gave us all a vicious glare.

"Damn, you learn fast," Jaguar noted, wincing as he pushed himself to his feet. My eyes widened, and Naomi grimaced; we were both amazed that he could stand after all his legs had endured, and also disturbed by how much pain he must've been in.

"You guessed my pattern and found a way to counteract it. Nobody has ever done that," Jaguar remarked, "You're damn smart, Wolf, I'll give ya that."

"Why have you and your colleagues attacked us multiple times? What do you hope to accomplish?" Raven asked, his tone no-nonsense. Jaguar grinned at that, showing off oddly sharp teeth that probably gained him part of his namesake.

"Well aren't _you _all fuckin' business. Alright, I'll tell ya," Jaguar grunted, "We wanted to free Fox, or at least put him out of the Hell they sent him to by bringing him back. That was part of it. But another part… well that was the last mission given to us by the man himself, FOXHOUND's true fuckin' commander." Naomi stiffened and bit her lip when Jaguar mentioned Grey Fox, and I raised an eyebrow at that reaction; did she already know what they had been doing to him?

"True commander, huh? So, Big Boss left the three of you with one last mission. What was it?" Raven asked, continuing his streak of seriousness.

"Well, he told us that there were some assholes out there manipulatin' our whole country, and playin' the government like they were goddamn puppets," Jaguar explained, "And he told us that at least one spy for those dickheads was within the ranks of FOXHOUND. He didn't know which of you it was, so he wanted us to either find out, or take you all out. Guess which option we took?" Naomi and I looked at each other with confusion at the mention of this organization behind our government, neither of us getting what the hell Jaguar was saying.

Jaguar's grin softened into a sad smile and he said just loud enough for us to hear, "I'm kinda glad you guys shot the crap outta my legs. I told myself that I'd only let myself do this if one of you could land a hit on me. I guess now I can avenge Falcon the way I wanted to, by blowing his killer to bits." He raised the detonator into the air, and my eyes widened; he was going to blow up another bomb, but where could it be?!

Jaguar's grin became menacing again as he raised his other hand and remarked, "You know, my hands may not look it, but they can create works of art…"

"_Kunst ist… ein Knall!!_" Jaguar pressed down hard on the detonator, and from the spot he was standing an explosion roared to life in a fireball brighter than the sun. The 'kaboom!' that went with it was deafening, and I tackled Naomi out of the way so neither of us would get hit. Raven also dove away from Jaguar's suicidal explosion. The gore and shrapnel flew over our heads, and when the shockwave finally passed I looked up. There was nothing left where Jaguar had stood, since pieces of him were scattered about the clearing. I got to my feet, helping Naomi up in the process.

"Well, this is certainly an interesting first day at work," Naomi remarked as Octopus walked out of the woods to join us and Raven got to his feet as well, "And I suppose it's not over, is it?"

"Acid Crab is waiting up ahead. We need to move on to our next fight," Raven replied, still serious. I glanced over at a decapitated arm of Jaguar with a somber expression; memories of him and Falcon beating the ever-loving crap out of each other, along with rare ones of them actually acting civil towards one another, surfaced as I thought of Jaguar's last words. Though I had only known him for so long, he had been a part of my 'family' for a few years. Seeing him dead, knowing the guilt he carried with him for so very long, it was all rather jarring and saddening at the exact same time.

We all moved on from the clearing and off to fight Crab; he was leaning against the wall of the base, throwing a vial of acid into the air and catching it leisurely while looking at us with eyes half-closed.

"Well, I reasoned that if Jaguar didn't come out winning that I'd fight the winner, but all of you guys are here," Crab noted semi-casually, "So… which one of you scored the first hit?" All eyes flicked to me, and my three comrades stepped back a few feet to isolate me as the 'winner'. I shot them all a glare, but turned back to Crab with a steely gaze. He grinned his normal, humorous grin.

"Well that eliminates one of my weapons o' choice," Crab muttered to himself.

"What does that mean?" I asked with a harsh edge to my voice.

"I can't put you through the experience of being gassed again, _Kurd_," Crab replied. I gritted my teeth and let out a growl at the jab at my race; it was even worse coming from the mouth of an Iraqi.

Immediately I put the PSG-1 into a firing position and growled, "Watch your mouth _Arab_." Crab grinned wider and whipped out a syringe of a colorless liquid out from seemingly nowhere; I bit my lip, that was definitely hydrogen cyanide, a powerful blood agent-type chemical weapon that was his very favorite to use. Before I could shoot it out of his hand Crab dashed forward, aiming to jab it into my veins; I reacted quickly and blocked the needle with the barrel of the PSG-1 like both were blades. This didn't discourage Crab; he quickly threw the syringe to his other hand and aimed to jab it into my thigh. I quickly jumped to the side, Crab's needle going through the air, and rolled a meter or two away so I could get a better shot; I got up on my knees and shot straight for Crab's head.

Crab ducked straight under the bullet and rolled over to me; I jumped out of the way again, but this time Crab threw the syringe at me with nearly perfect aim. I barely sidestepped it and the syringe broke when it hit the ground. I tried to get another shot in, but Crab dodged that as well and got out another syringe of colorless liquid; I gasped and cursed under my breath in Kurdish when I saw the word 'Tabun' written on it. Tabun was a deadly nerve agent, and I had seen it used on friends and family before. The results were the stuff of nightmares, and the only thing that frightened me more was Soman…

But before Crab could do a thing with the Tabun, our attention was brought away by Mantis and Ocelot crashing out of a second story window like they had been thrown or pushed out. I stared wide-eyed as Mantis and Ocelot plummeted to the ground and Rat appeared in the broken window; I don't think I ever expected to see that. Mantis was able to psychically catch himself and slow his descent to a gentle float, but Ocelot had no such luck; the older Russian gunslinger just fell flat on his face. Both Crab and I winced as we heard the small bones crack.

Mantis spared a cackle at Ocelot's misfortune, but he got his soon enough; _right _before his feet hit the ground, Rat came rocketing out of the window and her foot collided with the top of his head with an absurd amount of force. Mantis went down like a cinderblock had hit him instead of a Greek girl's foot in a pair of combat boots.

Rat pulled her knives out and hissed, "Now that I've got you both at my mercy, it's time to finish this." My eyes widened and I was about to rush over there to protect my comrades, but I was cut off in a way I didn't expect. The sound of rotor blades roared above all sound right then. A helicopter rose up from behind the base and swooped over the top, stopping at a hover in front of Rat (though quite a few feet higher up than she). Rat's eyes widened in shock at the sight of the helicopter, and I could see why; the thing was a behemoth! It wasn't on par with a Russian Hind-D, but _damn _if it wasn't close! Piloting the beast was none other than Liquid, grinning like he was nearly insane.

"Afraid I can't let you do that!" Liquid called over the helicopter's loudspeaker. "Ready for round two, Manic Rat?"

_Jaguar's final line translates to "Art is a bang", just so ya know._


	11. Chapter 11: Shadow Moses

_LAST TIME, Liquid kicked the crap out of Rat when he was dying, Wolf became even more Le Sad when he gave her Big Boss's dog tags, Naomi came home and is now a vixen, Jaguar blew himself up, Crab continued to do little of value, Mantis and Ocelot were owned by a 115-pound Greek girl, and Liquid confronted her with DA CHOPPA. NOW, another thrilling conclusion! Well, once again, the thrilling-ness is up to you. I own nothing, except the stuff I do own. Also, this may seem narcissistic, but could you tell me what you could consider the crowning moment of awesome of the story so far? You know, the moment where you go _'okay that is badass!'_? If there is such a moment, and one that shines above all the rest, then I'd love to know. _

_**-Shadow Moses-**_

My eyes were wider than the moon above us; and naturally, this was a very normal reaction. I mean, Liquid and Rat were facing of for the second time, but Liquid had a _helicopter _as his weapon of choice! That was thrilling enough to stop Crab and I in our tracks and stop our battle right in the middle.

"Heh, impressive! But are you hiding behind that chopper because you don't think you can fight me without a hole in your chest?" Rat taunted, adjusting her stance so that she was facing the copter like she was going to _stab _it.

"She _can't _be thinking that she'll take that thing on and win," I heard Octopus say behind me in an incredulous voice.

"Trust me, Rat has gone up against even worse," Naomi replied.

"Don't think me so cowardly, Rat," Liquid shot back over the loudspeaker, "I just wanted to fight in my element, that's all. With the dubious state of my memory, I didn't want to take any chances."

"I don't know what the hell you're talking about, but I could care less," Rat remarked before grinning madly and shouting, "COME ON!!! TRY ME, LIQUID SNAKE!!"

"WITH PLEASURE!!" Liquid shouted back before immediately opening fire on Rat with the machine guns. Rat immediately began to run, since she sure as hell couldn't block a machine gun; Liquid followed her close behind, not giving her an inch. The roar of machine gun fire and rotor blades was deafening, and nearly everyone in the vicinity covered their ears. However, I could not take my eyes away from the spectacular fight before me, and I had to refrain from cheering out for Liquid.

Liquid stopped the machine gun right as he realized that Rat would always stay one step ahead of that; Rat looked at him with a smirk, thinking he had given up, but anyone who knew that particular glint in Liquid's eye could tell you that he hadn't. He had simply found a different strategy. Liquid pressed another button on the control panel, and two heat-seeking missiles came flying towards Rat; her dark eyes widened, she knew _exactly _what would happen if those hit her. She tried running from them, but they were nearly as fast as she was. My face split into a giant grin; Liquid had her beat, no doubt about it.

My grin fell after a few more minutes of Rat trying to avoid the missiles a similar glint of a reformed plan entered her eyes. This couldn't be good, whatever it was. Rat leapt into the air and the missiles followed, but Rat used this to her advantage. Rat landed right on the nose of one of the missiles delicately enough not to upset it, and leapt higher into the air off of that one. The next missile followed her all the way up into the air until they were several feet higher than the helicopter, and Rat kicked that missile into the area of the helicopter's control panel.

The controls shorted out and the helicopter lurched around in the sky as Liquid tried to keep it upright; I gasped as fear for Liquid's safety consumed me. Liquid also lurched to the side with the falling helicopter, and his elbow accidentally hit the eject button; his eyes widened and he cursed under his breath, but I saw him hit something else right before the entire cockpit shot out of the helicopter and far up into the sky. Rat let out a harsh laugh and I saw Crab's grin widen, but I had a feeling that wouldn't last long.

And I was right. Right as Rat and the helicopter began to fall to the ground, one of the rotor blades shot out from its place above the helicopter proper and zoomed towards Rat. Her eyes barely had a chance to widen before the blade plunged into her stomach and sent her plummeting to the ground. Rat let out a blood-curdling cry of pain when she hit the concrete, both the impact and the impalement contributing to that.

"Rat!!" Crab cried, frantically running over to Rat, hoping to help her even though it was evident that he couldn't. I slowly took my hands off my ears while I watched Crab kneel by Rat's side as blood poured all around her to form a large crimson puddle. I had hoped that finally defeating them would be a little more satisfying, but as Rat lay crumpled and bleeding with a giant blade through her abdomen all the fond feelings I had for her before came back in a waterfall, with regret mixed in along with them.

"Rat, oh my God… We need to find some way to… Allah…" Crab sputtered, eyes wide with terror. Rat's blood pooled around his knees, turning his khaki pants a bright red as it seeped into the fabric.

Rat smiled weakly and looked over to Crab before choking out, "C'mon, Altair, those days… are far behind us… We're not FOXHOUND… anymore. Just call me… call me… Stephania."

"B-But- Rat, I… Alright, Stephania," Crab sighed. "B-but, you can't be saying that like it's the end, right?! You can't die, I can't lose you!" I felt a lump rise in my throat…

Rat blindly reached above her, into the sky, as she murmured, "I wanted to honor… Big Boss's last order, but… but… I wanted something else… more. I… I wanted to see him… one… more… time… Frank…" I could hear Naomi choke back some sort of sob.

"I only wanted to see… Frank again… I wanted to maybe… hear his… voice… But I don't think… he… would remember," Rat continued. From this distance I could see the tear roll down her cheek, and similar tears welled up in my eyes. I refused to let them fall.

"Altair… finish me," Rat begged, "It hurts… Please, kill me." My eyes widened, I never thought I'd ever hear those words come out of Rat's mouth.

"What?! N-no, I can't do that Stephania!" Crab exclaimed, shaking his head vigorously.

"But we certainly can." Crab's head whipped up, and standing above him and Rat were Mantis and Ocelot. Ocelot, at least, looked quite eager to put Rat out of her misery; logical, considering all the times she had trounced him. I couldn't see Mantis's expression through his gas mask from here.

Crab gritted his teeth and growled, "Don't touch her!"

"Oh give it up," Mantis sighed, "She wants to die, I want her dead, it's win-win."

"I won't let you," Crab hissed.

"Whether you _let _me or not means nothing," Mantis shot back.

"However, you have a choice, unlike your friend," Ocelot commented, "You can either die along with her, or be taken in to be tortured for information, _then _killed. What'll it be?" Crab looked from the slowly dying Rat to Ocelot and Mantis, then to Rat and back once more.

"… I'll go on with her. I'm not giving you anything," Crab hissed with a triumphant grin, "Give _them_ my best, would ya?" I shut my eyes tightly; just hearing the revolver shot through Crab's forehead and the loud crackling of Mantis's lightning immolating the two of them was bad enough. I refused to open my eyes even when it was over. I felt no sense of triumph. If anything, I felt like _we _were the bad guys; fond memories dug all the way to the forefront of my mind, telling me exactly what I had just done. Yes, they had been trouble, but that wasn't the only thing they had been.

A day passed from then on, and that day was spent gathering the remains of our foes to be disposed of in ways I didn't know much about, tracking down Liquid and repairing the helicopter. Naomi settled into her new job as Dr. Clark's assistant, and I tried to figure out how to help without having to go near any remains. At nearly eleven o'clock in the evening, Campbell finally tracked down Liquid.

"We tracked Liquid's signal to the Fox Archipelago off of Alaska," Campbell explained as nearly all of FOXHOUND hovered over the map on the screen hooked into the table, "More than likely he's on Shadow Moses Island, but we can't tell for sure."

"Why don't we have a precise fix on his location?" Ocelot asked, standing up from being hunched over the screen and spinning his revolver around a bit.

"It stopped transmitting about an hour ago, we're not sure why," Campbell responded.

"Wait- how the hell did Liquid get all the way over to Alaska?" Octopus wondered incredulously as I covered my nose from the secondhand smoke coming out of his mouth. I couldn't stand cigarettes; cigars I could tolerate for obvious reasons, but cigarettes just lacked all kinds of class that could save them from being objects of my abhorrence.

"The ejection system on that model of chopper is sort of unreliable," Campbell replied. "Raven, Wolf, you two will go to gather Liquid. Since the helicopter is broken- and neither of you can fly it- you'll have to drive there." I let out a sigh at the thought of driving nearly nonstop across the country, but I said nothing in complaint. Neither did Raven, and in a few minutes the two of us and Berthold were outside the base, nearly ready to leave; I had decided that Berthold should come along, since he loved the snow.

"So, excited to be going home?" I asked Raven as I shrugged on a heavy white jacket that I would need for the terrain ahead of us.

"To fetch Liquid? I think not," Raven replied. I sent him a pointed half-glare.

"Raven, you know that Liquid has gotten better than how he was when he first got here," I remarked.

"Indeed, but something seems off about him lately," Raven mentioned, "On a spiritual level, I mean."

"I know jack shit about that stuff, so we'd better just drop that point," I remarked. "So, you and Berthold can take one of the Jeeps. I'll be taking something different, preferably something fast, so you two can get on the road right now."

Raven nodded in agreement, and Berthold wagged his tail harder. I knelt down to his level and said in Kurdish, "Alright, you make sure not to eat him unless you get really hungry, okay?" Berthold nodded and I chuckled a bit, and after a few minutes those two had gone. I immediately got into the faster of our two normal-looking cars, revved up the engine and smirked; I absolutely _loved _driving fast, it was exhilarating. Unless I was the passenger and not the driver, then it was scary as hell. I floored it and zoomed down the dirt road, swerving around Raven and Berthold in the Jeep when I came across them. I let out a laugh as I rolled down the window, letting the cold winter air in and blowing my hair around; it was a shame that this car wasn't a convertible, but I could manage.

The planned route was to go up to Canada, then drive straight to Alaska through there; I stuck to that plan, though I probably got us into a little bit of trouble by running over people trying to stop me at the border. Hey, _they _were the ones interfering with an important FOXHOUND mission, not me! Seeing as I had diazepam and pentazemin on hand, I didn't need to stop so I could sleep; which was just as well, since the drive took nearly two days without stopping. I tried to keep my mind focused on the road ahead of me and what was going on right here and now, but naturally my mind strayed back to Liquid and how he might've been doing.

"He can handle himself," I muttered as I ran over more border patrol on my way into Alaska. My vehicular manslaughter count was definitely off the charts by this point. Raven and Berthold met up with me right where Alaska tapered off into the Fox Archipelago, and immediately we were faced with a problem.

"I don't know about you two, but I'm not swimming there," I snapped. Shadow Moses was not _too _far from the shore, but hell if I was swimming there. It was cold as hell out here, and the ocean was probably even colder.

"Alright then, you can drive back to that town a few miles back to rent some sort of boat," Raven replied.

I shook my head in the contrary, saying, "I'm nearly out of gas, I don't want to waste it on going back for that."

"So am I. Well, then you're either staying here or swimming," Raven said, raising an eyebrow. I was about to snap that I couldn't just stay here when Liquid was over there, but I was cut off by a somewhat familiar voice.

"You could've been over there a few hours ago if you hadn't brought her, Raven. She's a 'desert person', not cut out for snow or the ocean." I turned around to see a man who looked quite similar to Liquid, though he had his hair in a ponytail and wore sunglasses- I recognized him immediately as Master McDonnell Miller, a former trainer of FOXHOUND recruits; I hadn't known him well since I didn't really train like all the others, but it was still a shock to see him.

"Master Miller? What are you doing here?" I asked.

"Should be askin' you that question Wolf," Miller replied.

"Right… Well, we're looking for our point man, Liquid Snake. How he ended up here is a long story," I replied. Miller raised an eyebrow in a speculative manner.

"_Liquid _Snake," Miller repeated almost incredulously. He had known and trained Solid, so that codename probably came as some sort of surprise to him.

"Solid's twin brother," Raven clarified. "Anyways, you heard what we were just talking about, so do you know any way we could get over to Shadow Moses?"

"Quickly," I added.

"I can get you over there. I've got a boat you can use," Miller replied. "Mind if I tag along?"

"Not at all. why?" I answered, furrowing my eyebrows.

"I wanna meet this 'Liquid' person," Miller said, "Also the base commander over there owes me a quite a lot of money from a poker game." I cracked a smile at that, but said nothing. Miller leaved absurdly close- which was probably how he had discovered us in the first place- so getting the boat didn't take very long. Sailing out there didn't take long either, though I didn't have time to appreciate it since the boat frightened Berthold and I had to keep him calm. When we reached Shadow Moses Berthold had leapt out of the boat before any of us and took off towards the base faster than I could keep up with. I ran after him regardless and eventually caught up to him at the fence surrounding the perimeter of the base. Miller and Raven weren't far behind, and the guard at the fence noticed Miller right away.

"Master Miller! Good to see you, sir," the guard said cheerfully.

"Evenin', son. Here to see the commander," Miller said back calmly.

"Oh, uh… I'm afraid I can't let anyone in right now, sir," the guard remarked, sounding somewhat hesitant.

"Why, what's going on?" Miller asked, suspicious now; as was I, though I had a feeling it had something to do with Liquid.

"What I heard is, there's an intruder and a bunch of guys've been beaten up and shot at," the guard explained.

"No kidding?" Immediately I let out a heavy sigh and Raven face-palmed, for we were thinking the same thing: _God damn it Liquid! _

"Err, something wrong with your Eskimo friend there?" the guard asked as he noticed Raven face palming.

"He'll be fine," Miller replied. "Look, son, I'll explain everything to the commander. I'm sure it'll be fine."

"Well alright, sir, if you say so," the guard said before standing aside to let us through. Miller, Berthold and I walked through normal as anything, but Raven paused to punch the guard in the face, knocking him out.

"_'Eskimo'_?!" Raven echoed angrily before following along with us. "I am going to _break _Liquid if he's the one they're after. I mean he won't be able to use his body for everyday activities."

"Main entrance up ahead," Miller commented, not listening.

"Liquid may not be especially bright, but I thought even he couldn't set off a war by _accident_," Raven continued.

"I think you're overreacting," I mentioned. Right then Berthold stopped to sniff the air, then ran off faster than before.

I was about to follow after him again, but Raven said, "He'll be back, Wolf. It won't take that long."

"What won't?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Berthold said he smelled female, so use your imagination," Raven replied. I winced a bit, but said nothing. After we reached the base, finding Liquid was relatively easy. We just tracked the accented grumbles of seemingly random things over to a strangely shaped ventilation duct that Liquid had just managed to get his head and arms out of. The rest of him was… well, stuck. His grumbles of wanting to destroy all ducts everywhere now made sense.

"Wolf? Raven? What are you doing here?" Liquid wondered, pausing in his fruitless efforts to get out of the duct when he noticed us.

"Looking for you, idiot!" I snapped. I was definitely not pleased; despite the fact that Raven had been overreacting, Liquid _had _gotten himself into quite a stupid mess.

"Uh, Raven? Could you get me out of here?" Liquid asked as he tried to push himself out again. Raven frowned, grabbing Liquid's head and pulled extremely hard; he yanked Liquid out of the duct, but from what I could gather from Liquid's pained yelp he had probably nearly killed him.

Liquid fell facedown in the snow and said weakly, "I, uh, can't feel my body."

"Quit whining. We have to get you out of here," I snapped. Right then, a pair of legs- and soon enough an entire human- slid out of the duct, landing right on Liquid. The man brushed himself off before looking around warily and keeping the gun at his side ready for firing. He had dark hair that contrasted with his pale skin and even paler eyes with dark bags underneath. On the side of his head was a metal jack that a wire could easily hook into. His clothing was dark as well, except for a white jacket with grey patches obscuring something on the sleeves. I recognized this man immediately, though when I had known him those patches were replaced with FOXHOUND insignias. This was Ghost Turtle, or Esau Hughes; seems I was meeting more and more people I knew from before out here in Shadow Moses.

"Turtle?" I wondered incredulously, taking a few steps forward as Turtle stepped off of Liquid. Turtle noticed me right then.

"Wolf? Why are you here?" Turtle asked. "Did Baker get them to send FOXHOUND after me, too?"

"I think that was an organ- wait, Turtle?" Liquid piped up, trying to get up off the ground and failing.

"I'm here to collect that one," I replied, indicating Liquid with my head. "What are _you _doing here?"

"Who's Turtle?" Liquid wondered from the ground.

"Well, I was working here, but I sort of quit," Turtle answered.

"He's with the FOXHOUND reserves. His codename is Ghost Turtle," Raven explained to Liquid.

"Reserves?" Liquid echoed. I rolled my eyes; Solid Snake had a _terrible _habit of echoing things, hearing Liquid do it was annoying as well.

"The reserves are where they send the agents who scored high but not as high as us. Sort of like the national guard," I explained. "We call it DOGPOUND."

Turtle grinned and said with an edge to his voice, "You don't wanna _know _what we call you guys, sweetheart." I narrowed my eyes at him threateningly.

"If a job comes up and we're already on a mission, they're supposed to cover for us. But it's been slow the last couple of years," Raven continued.

"Wait, who is this guy? He looks familiar," Turtle asked, looking down at Liquid.

"Liquid Snake. Solid's brother," Raven answered. Liquid glared up at him, obviously pissed at being introduced as Snake's brother.

"Holy shit! I've been running around with him this whole time and didn't even notice!" Turtle exclaimed, his pale eyes widening in surprise.

He then looked over his shoulder cautiously and said, "Speaking of which, I've got to book it. I'll see ya later. Well, probably not, but whatever." And then Turtle took off to the East nearly as fast as Berthold had.

"That was odd. What's his rush?" Raven asked.

"I'd bet it's because he just killed several dozen people," Liquid remarked, _finally _getting to his feet and brushing the snow off.

"You alright?" I asked. Liquid just nodded, obviously not one hundred percent, but close enough.

"So you found your man," Miller remarked, walking up. I wasn't aware that he had left, so I jumped a bit.

I recovered quickly and said, "Yeah. Hey, Raven, can you go get Berthold for me?"

Raven nodded and left to get him, while Liquid asked, "Who's this guy?"

"McDonnell Miller, ex-FOXHOUND," Miller replied.

"Nice shades," Liquid commented with a smirk, eyeing Miller's sunglasses.

"Thanks," Miller said with his own smirk. "I used to train the new recruits. Your brother was one of the best I ever saw."

Liquid's smirk fell and he deadpanned, "I see." I bit my lip at Liquid's reaction, since things had been going well up until it.

"Actually, I was one of the first agents back when Big Boss started it," Miller commented. I saw something… change behind Liquid's eyes, and not in the normal way that battle changed it.

"Oh, I remember. You got a house full of hostages blown up your first time out," Liquid remarked. My eyes widened and my eyebrows furrowed, while Liquid's eyes widened as well and he clapped a hand over his mouth; I had heard another voice behind Liquid's… It was Saladin's. No, that couldn't possibly be true! I wouldn't allow it to be…

"What the- how could you possibly know that?" Miller demanded, glaring at Liquid now. "… Not that it's true…" Liquid's eyes narrowed and he whirled around to face the air behind him.

"Did… Did _you _just say that?" Liquid hissed. Miller and I shared a glance as Liquid waited a beat; at least I knew what to expect from this, so I had a bit of pity for Miller.

"You said it with _my mouth_!!" Liquid shouted after the beat. He ground his teeth angrily as he waited another beat.

"You aren't real! I am! So you piss off and stay out of my way!" Liquid snapped. "… I won that bet fair and square! In and out without being caught! … That does not count, he ran straight into me! … You are such a cheating bastard!"

"Is this normal for him?" Miller wondered, looking over at me.

"… No, no it's not," I replied. Raven and Berthold came back around then, and we all left the island with Liquid still arguing with the air beside him. I took Liquid in my car since Raven didn't want to deal with him, and halfway through the drive I had to knock Liquid out because his argument with the air was getting extremely heated and violent; that and it was distracting. Any worry I previously had for Liquid doubled in intensity, now that I knew he wasn't all there…

I didn't drive as fast this time, so Raven and Berthold got back at the same time Liquid and I did. Raven carried him into the base since I was monitoring Berthold, and right as we walked in we came across the others.

"Hey there! We missed you guys," Octopus called, "Well, I did. Those two, not so much."

"Yeah yeah, we've got a problem," Raven proclaimed.

"What happened to him?" Ocelot asked, pointing at Liquid (currently unconscious and slung over Raven's shoulder like a sack of potatoes).

"Right, that would be the problem which I previously alluded to," Raven answered. Liquid then began to stir, looking more tired than he should when he opened his eyes; I wondered if he had continued his argument even while asleep…

"Mmph, my head hurts…" Liquid murmured. "Mantis? Are you there?"

"Here, put him down against the wall," Ocelot instructed. After some maneuvering, Liquid was sitting against the wall; it broke my heart a bit to see Liquid looking so exhausted even though he had been unconscious for a while.

"Mantis, I need your help…" Liquid begged.

"We aim not to please. What is it?" Mantis asked.

"You've got to help me get rid of him," Liquid pleaded.

"Who, Ocelot? Sure, no problem," Mantis replied, a smirk beneath his gas mask. Ocelot glared at him, but I smirked a bit.

"No, not him… That one-eyed _bastard _calling himself my father is _driving me INSANE!!_" Liquid exclaimed. My eyes widened; this was about to get _far _more complicated.


	12. Chapter 12: Only One

_LAST TIME, Liquid fought Rat with a helicopter and got rocketed into Alaska. Rat got impaled then electrocuted while Crab got shot. Wolf, Raven and Bertie went to get Liquid and met up with Master Miller and Turtle while up there while Liquid argued with his imaginary daddy again. OR IS HE IMAGINARY? Find out these answers and more in this next, not-so-action packed chapter~! I own nothing. Like, next to nothing by this point since none of my characters are alive… Alright. _

_**-Only One-**_

Mantis put liquid into solitary confinement shortly afterwards, though I don't think I could tell you why. The details of this whole thing confused the Hell out of me, to be honest, since psychological things weren't my forte. Ocelot and I stood a few feet down from the room, only one of us really concerned for Liquid; I think you know who that would be out of the two of us.

"How long has this been going on? I heard him talking to himself back in Outer Heaven, but…" I trailed off.

"More than a year, apparently," Ocelot answered nonchalantly. My eyes widened in surprise at that.

"He's been having hallucinations all this time and hasn't said anything?" I wondered, shocked. My worry for Liquid increased quite a bit right then, but I'm not sure how much more it could increase by this point.

Ocelot shrugged and commented, "Hey, who knows what's normal in his world." Raven walked up right then, and I relaxed just a little. He had said that something was wrong with Liquid on a spiritual level, maybe he knew what was going on. I desperately needed to know, for Liquid's sake.

"But it's not just hallucinations. We know the persona of Big Boss is in his mind," Raven stated. I narrowed my eyes a little in some suspicion.

"We do? How come I never head of this?" I asked. Raven sent me a look that told me instantly why; he knew exactly what would happen to me if he did, and I was actually rather surprised that I wasn't freezing up right now. Perhaps I was making progress… immediately a voice in my head shot down that notion, telling me that my grief wasn't ready to leave just yet.

"You think it's some kind of split-personality thing like in Psycho?" Ocelot asked, pausing in his incessant revolver spinning.

"I'm not sure. There's more to it than that; his aura is all messed up," Raven answered.

"Aura. Yeah, that's _great _(Fuckin' hippie…)," Ocelot muttered under his breath. Right as Raven was about to speak again, Mantis came barreling out of Liquid's containment room like the devil himself was chasing him. We all stared at him with eyes wide, not entirely sure what to say.

Mantis looked up at us and said through his labored breathing, "We are drugging him and tying him down _now_." Before I even had the chance to ask why Ocelot and Raven had gotten Naomi to deliver the tranquilizer and had tied Liquid down immediately afterwards. It was just astounding how fast it seemed to happen, almost in the blink of an eye. When I had recovered from the sudden shock- and Liquid had been fully incapacitated- Mantis and I were standing outside the doorway to his room.

My eyes softened at the sight of Liquid bound like that, so I asked, "The restraints… are they really necessary?"

"Liquid is what we like to call a 'Paranoid Schizophrenic'," Mantis replied, "Or, a 'Total Whack-job'. So yes, he stays drugged and tied until we figure out what to do."

I wrapped my arms around myself to ward off an emotional chill and murmured, "I feel terrible. We all have pushed him so hard to be like his father that he doesn't even know who he's supposed to be any more…" I furrowed my eyebrows just a bit; that was _not _what I had meant to say. It seemed my grief and emotional fragility were trying their damnedest to keep me in my bubble.

"Despite what you want to believe- and as much as I enjoy watching you persecute yourself," Mantis interjected as Ocelot and Raven walked up again, "There's more than that going on in there, and more than one thing in there too."

"You think there's something living in Liquid's mind?" Raven wondered incredulously.

"If it were just some alter-ego of Liquid's, it wouldn't have been able to resist my mind control," Mantis replied. My eyebrows went up; that must've been what spooked Mantis into taking these drastic measures, which made sense. Nobody had ever beaten Mantis at 'mind games' before.

"There must be some kind of foreign entity in there with him," Mantis continued.

"You explained the whole 'mental parasite' thing to me once before. I still don't understand it," Raven remarked.

"Wait. He said that the Big Boss in his head knew things the real Big Boss had never told him," Ocelot began, his eyebrows furrowed in thought.

"Go play, Ocelot. The psychics are talking," Mantis snapped.

"Fuck you," Ocelot shot back, glaring daggers at Mantis.

"No, wait. He has a point," Raven said, a look of shock and realization spreading onto his face as he turned to Ocelot. "You don't think-"

"I do," Ocelot interrupted. I forgot to breath for a second or two; I had read between all the lines, and I knew _exactly _what they meant by that. But it was impossible, it just had to be–

"No. _No_. Not a _chance_, _NO,_" Mantis emphatically declared. You could see his glare through the gas mask, he was so pissed. Raven and Ocelot just stared at him, a little perplexed by that statement. I stared at him as well in puzzlement.

"It is _NOT _Big Boss's _ghost_!" Mantis shouted.

"It has Big Boss's memories. It's an independent sentience residing in Liquid's mind. And Raven's ethereometer is through the roof. That spells out 'ghost' pretty clearly to me," Ocelot stated, raising an eyebrow at Mantis.

"GHOSTS! DO! NOT! EXIST!" Mantis exclaimed, looking like he was about to burst a blood vessel. I raised an eyebrow myself; that was more than a little ridiculous, a psychic who didn't believe in ghosts.

"I'll have you know that some of my closest friends are spirits," Raven remarked coldly, narrowing his eyes at Mantis. Mantis let out a groan and face-palmed, and I chose that moment to walk away from the discussion. I narrowed my eyes a bit as I paced the hallway a few meters away; what had Saladin's ghost come back to do? And why was he using Liquid to do it? As Berthold met up with me and I scratched him behind the ears with a half-smile, I pondered everything I knew about this situation.

Saladin had convinced Liquid that he had been intentionally created as the inferior clone… Why would he ever believe that? If I knew anything about Saladin, it was that he would never choose someone to be inferior. As far as I knew, he believed that nearly everyone deserved a fighting chance to live. Even though Liquid and Solid had been made without his permission, I don't think he would curse either of them like that. After all, they hadn't _asked _to be created.

I pursed my lips as another thought came to me; how in the world was it fair to Liquid for Big Boss to have constantly told him he was garbage from nearly the day he was born? It was a wonder Liquid hadn't come out of this worse than he was now; if things had been any worse… I shuddered to think of what would've happened if that scenario came to pass. And right then, I had a spark of insight. Beckoning Bertie to come with me, I walked into Liquid's 'cell' and took Saladin's dog tags off Berthold's neck.

I then regarded Liquid with softened eyes; he was constantly twitching in his tranquilizer-induced sleep, looking to be still at war with the spirit of his father. I bit my lip, holding back Allah-knows-what. This must've been one of the reasons Liquid was always so tired in the mornings; he never really got to sleep. I sat on the side of the bed, trailing the tips of my fingers gingerly over Liquid's face, letting them wind down from his forehead to his lower jaw. I snapped my hand back the minute I realized what I was doing, or at least the part of me that didn't want to admit my fondness for Liquid did. I looked down at Liquid as he struggled in his sleep for a few seconds more before I unclasped the ball chain, worked the tags around Liquid's neck and redid the clasp.

"You should have these," I murmured. "Please, Liquid, come back soon. Okay?" Before I could stop myself, I planted a light kiss on Liquid's forehead. I smiled as I stood up; for a moment or two, Liquid had seemed to relax under my influence. Something about that made me feel absurdly happy… I shook my head a little and made my way to the doorway, but I stopped to look over my shoulder for Berthold. My eyebrows furrowed; Berthold was still by Liquid's side, watching him intently with a canine expression of confusion. I didn't know what to make of it, so I returned to the others…

Just in time to hear Ocelot ask, "Wouldn't we be better off with Big Boss instead of Liquid?" I just stood there staring at Ocelot with an expression of pure shock; after what I had just thought of… after everything I had just done… The shock wore off and a powerful rage I was quite familiar with bubbled up from the bottom of my stomach. I stormed over to Ocelot, my hands balled up into tight fists. Mantis had been about to counter Ocelot's remark, but instead he wisely started backing away. Raven followed suit, as did Octopus (who had just gotten there, if my hypothesis was correct).

Ocelot turned around with a puzzled expression just as I had finished pulling my fist back; he barely had time to react as I plowed my fist straight into his face with more force than a bullet train going at it's highest speed. Ocelot reeled back and let out a cry of pain, but he recovered quickly enough; he had a bloody nose and looked nearly as pissed as I was.

"You just can't get enough of hitting me can you, you _bitch_!" Ocelot shouted, nearly lunging at me– nearly, for Mantis and Raven had caught his arms before he could and were holding him back. Octopus had taken his gun so Ocelot couldn't get a shot in on me; I'd have to thank him later.

"Don't you _ever _say that _ever _again Ocelot!" I shouted back, my smoldering fury erupting in a gigantic plume of wrath.

"Oh, so you don't want me to tell the truth, is that it? Well, wouldn't you rather have the man _you_ fell head over heels for backing you up instead of his low quality Xerox copy?" Ocelot wondered condescendingly; for some reason, I felt that both times Ocelot said 'you' in his last sentence, those words were really replacing the words 'I' and 'me'…

"I've had it with you calling Liquid worthless, Ocelot! And besides, Big Boss is _dead_! He doesn't belong in this world any more, it doesn't matter what _you _want!" I exclaimed, resisting the urge to punch Ocelot again.

"Don't _you _talk to _me _about dead people _bitch_! You don't-" Ocelot was cut off as Raven and Mantis both seemed to hear and feel something at the exact same time, something nobody else in the hall could see or feel.

"What the _hell _was _that_?" both of them wondered in unison, turning towards Liquid's cell with expressions of extreme surprise. Ocelot, Octopus and I shared looks of confusion. Raven and Mantis let go of Ocelot's arms and nearly sprinted to the cell; not wanting to be left out, the rest of us followed close behind.

"Alright, what the hell is going on here?" Ocelot questioned as we all grouped around Liquid's restrained form.

"Big Boss is fighting Liquid for control of his mind," Mantis replied. My eyes widened even more; my fight with Ocelot was completely forgotten, I _had _to see this!

"Awesome!" Ocelot exclaimed, and sadly I had to agree with him.

"Any way you could show the rest of us what's going on?" I asked, glancing over at Liquid for a second.

"Yeah, I can broadcast what I'm seeing to the rest of you," Mantis replied.

"Yessssssssss–" Ocelot was cut off as Mantis remarked, "Except you, Ocelot. I can't get past those nanomachines of yours. Funny ol' world, isn't it?" Ocelot stared at Mantis with a look so angry it was nearly impossible to describe. Mantis's eyes glowed a bright green, and in a flash I could see the fight; Liquid and Big Boss were currently going at it hand-to-hand in a plain white void, Liquid already with a few bruises and Saladin without a scratch. My eyes widened as Liquid dodged a left-hook from Big Boss and ducked, spinning around down there to land a kick on Saladin.

Right then, Mantis let out a shriek of pain and fell to his knees, clutching his head in his hands.

"Mantis! Are you alright?" I asked.

"Urgh, Liquid's consciousness is being ripped in half and I'm feeling the shockwaves. Every time they attack each other I see both of their minds _at once. _It feels like my ocular nerves are being- AGH!" Mantis answered, clutching his head again as Saladin punched Liquid in the face. As much as I was concerned for Mantis, I turned my attention back to the fight. I _had _to see what was going on, I just _had _to.

Liquid recovered quickly from the blow to the head, dodging another and landing two punches on Saladins' chest and ribcage; Saladin grunted in pain, grabbed Liquid by the right arm and swung him over his head, aiming to smash him into the ground. Liquid let himself be swung halfway before breaking Saladin's hold and using his position to swing around and kick Saladin square in the face with both feet. Saladin staggered backwards and Liquid leapt to the floor, landing perfectly on his feet; Saladin rushed at Liquid, a fist coiled to spring at Liquid and hit him right in the face.

Liquid blocked the punch when it came, but Saladin used the opportunity to knee Liquid in the ribs and grab his throat as tight as he could. Liquid knocked away Saladin's knee and followed suit, grabbing Saladin around the throat and squeezing as hard as possible while trying to stay conscious; he looked pretty bad, who knew how long he could last…

"Why don't you just… give… up? You clearly… can't win," Saladin choked out, glaring daggers at Liquid.

Liquid croaked out a chuckle and strained himself to say, "Oh really? Seems to me…we're pretty evenly… matched."

"I'm doing the choking… with my left hand… Mr. Observant…"

"Is that supposed to be… impressive?"

"AAAAAAAGGGHHH! I can't take it, SOMEONE KNOCK ME THE FUCK OUT!" Mantis screeched, his fingers digging into his scalp like he was going to rip his brain out. Ocelot grinned and grabbed a nearby fire extinguisher, happy to oblige.

"Let's finish this!" Saladin shouted.

"Have at you!" Liquid shouted back. The two of them ran at each other, both with a blow ready for the other, and Ocelot was just about to hit Mantis on the head.

"Hold on, Ocelot–" Mantis was cut off by the loud 'SMASH!' of the fire extinguisher hitting him hard on the top of his head, knocking him out cold. The fight immediately disappeared right as Mantis went down, leaving the non-psychics in the room unable to see the outcome. I cursed under my breath; my desire to grievously harm Ocelot increased tenfold.

"I'm sorry, you were saying something?" Ocelot wondered with a sarcastic edge to his voice, grinning down at Mantis.

"I think it's over…" Raven muttered, clutching his head; understandable, since he was also tapping into Liquid's mind during the fight and probably felt the mental conflict.

"Who won then?" Octopus asked, as eager as I was to know the answer.

"Can't tell. Having a little trouble getting a grip on the _real _world right now," Raven replied with a wince.

"We'll just have to wait until he wakes up. I hope he's alright…" I said. A second or two later, Liquid opened his eyes drowsily, letting out a small groan as he tried to get a grip on the real world himself.

"Liquid! How do you feel?" I asked excitedly, leaning closer to Liquid expectantly. Liquid blinked a few times, then looked over at me and smiled.

"… Like a new man." I immediately rocketed backwards with a horrified gasp; that wasn't Liquid's voice… _that was SALADIN'S! _This couldn't be happening, this just couldn't be happening!

"Allah… _S-Saladin?_" I exclaimed, getting my voice back.

"The one and only. Accept no substitutes," Saladin replied, making Liquid's smile widen into a grin. I winced a bit; every single action Saladin used Liquid's body to convey seemed so unnatural to me…

"Yes! _Awesome_!" Ocelot exclaimed, elated beyond belief.

"Uh-huh, back from the not-so-great beyond to finish what I started," Saladin said. Raven narrowed his eyes, looking a lot angrier than he should.

"Right. Well, we'll have to see about that," Raven said bitterly. He then punched 'Saladin' hard in the face, knocking 'him' out.

"Whoa, hey! What the hell was that?" Ocelot exclaimed, turning to Raven with a pissed off and shocked look.

"It's too dangerous to have him conscious," Raven proclaimed, "Until we've decided what to do with him we'll keep him restrained and asleep." I nodded in agreement and Ocelot glared at us both.

Several hours later, after briefing everyone else in the base on the situation and Campbell calling the president about this predicament, we were all nearby Liquid's cell again– myself with the PSG-1 and tranquilizer darts loaded in it– waiting for the verdict. Ocelot was grumbling to himself, and Mantis was conscious again. Naomi was with us too, mostly because I had just gotten done telling her what had happened.

"No way, so now you're saying Liquid's basically possessed?" Naomi wondered, her eyebrows raised in surprise.

"Yup, that's basically the gist of it," I replied with a shrug.

Naomi cringed and muttered, "Eegh, must be confusing for you, huh?" I furrowed my eyebrows in puzzlement.

"What do you mean?" I wondered.

"Well, you had a crush bigger than the entire continent of Africa on Big Boss for a while," Naomi began, "And it looks like now you've got a 'fondness' for Liquid, so…" I felt myself blushing at that accusation.

"What–? I–"

"Aren't you a little old to be denying it like that, Wolf?" Octopus drawled, grinning as he put out his cigarette and lit another one. I glared a death glare at Octopus while Naomi winced a bit more at Octopus lighting another cigarette.

"I swear, why people intentionally do things that give them cancer is beyond me," Naomi commented.

Right then Campbell walked over to us from wherever down the hall he had been, saying, "I just got off the phone with the president. He says FOXHOUND is to use all it's resources to get Liquid back to normal. Until we do, the unit is relieved of duty."

"I'm glad _someone _has their priorities straight around here," Raven remarked bitterly. Ocelot's frown deepened, not pleased in the slightest.

"Unbe-_fucking_-lievable. The single greatest soldier who ever lived has come back to life and nobody _wants _him around but me," Ocelot growled, too pissed to spin his revolver.

"That's right, Ocelot. We don't want a _dead man _leading us into battle," Mantis replied sarcastically.

"Wasn't the point of cloning him to make sure that his abilities kept working for us even after he was dead? We've now got his skills and experience too, in a body in peak physical condition. This is exactly what we want!" Ocelot argued.

"Big Boss tried to start another world war. He absolutely hated the U.S. and everything it stood for. He wanted a world ruled by warriors according to a warrior's principals. Order out of chaos and all that bullshit. He's been a threat to us for a _very _long time Ocelot. He couldn't be controlled when he was alive, and now that he's… whatever he is… I can't even control him with telepathy," Mantis argued back. I narrowed my eyes, there was something here that didn't feel right. A malignant undercurrent of sorts lay just beneath the surface of their argument.

Ocelot smirked and said, "You're afraid of him."

"I understand how dangerous he is," Mantis replied, dodging around the issue.

"No, you're _personally _afraid of him. You're pissing yourself just _thinking _about him, aren't you?" Ocelot wondered, grinning now.

"Shut your trap. I could burst his lungs with a mere thought," Mantis snapped. I narrowed my eyes a bit; Mantis had to remember that those were Liquid's lungs as well.

"And I bet you'd do it if he so much as blinked at you, wouldn't you? Because you're scared _shitless _of him!" Ocelot declared.

"I could burst _your _lungs too!" Mantis hissed.

Ocelot rolled his eyes, walked over to the door, and said, "Prove me wrong! Step in there and talk to him for five minutes without running in terror. He's tied down, he can't hurt your fragile little body." Nearly everyone else noticed right away that the restraints on the bed were broken and 'Saladin' was nowhere to be found. Raven, Naomi and I shared a combined look of dread.

"Uh, wait Ocelot. Don't open the–" Mantis was cut off yet again.

"For God's sake, get a grip," Ocelot scoffed, opening the door. In the time it took any of us to blink, 'Saladin' had rocketed from his hiding place and was now using Liquid's body to push Ocelot up against the wall, his hands tightly wrapped around Ocelot's throat. I reacted instinctively, switching the PSG-1 to a firing position and putting my finger on the trigger; I narrowed my eyes to get a good view at where I would shoot.

"Ocelot," Saladin remarked, glaring at Ocelot using Liquid's eyes with a burning ferocity.

"Jack, buddy! Man, this brings me ba- _hurk!_" Saladin cut off Ocelot's sentence by tightening 'his' hold on the Russian's throat.

"You know, Ocelot, I've had a lot of time to think since I crossed over," Saladin began. "About what you and the Patriots did to me, to The Boss, to my country. About all those opportunities I had to kill you that I passed up. And do you know what I've decided?"

"Err… no?" Ocelot replied, looking absolutely terrified. It was pretty damn satisfying to see Ocelot scared, but I had to remember that he was a comrade, no matter how much of an asshole he was…

"I should've blown your sick little brain out when I had the chance," Saladin growled. Ocelot's eyes widened even more, his fright increasing tenfold.

"A-aw, c'mon! You don't mean that. I-I was just a soldier, doing my job," Ocelot defended with a nervous grin.

"You shot my _eye _out for a _game_, you little punk! What the hell was I thinking? 'He's just a kid, no need to hold a grudge'. My _eye_! You know they tried replacing it a few times? It never really worked and it hurt like a bastard. They make any progress with that? Or will you be out of a job when I _rip yours out_?" Saladin shouted, his rage now a malignant fury. I gritted my teeth and pulled the trigger, the dart hitting Saladin right in Liquid's neck. Liquid's face registered surprise, but instead of falling right down 'he' just turned to us with the same glare, dropping Ocelot as he did. I let out a Kurdish curse under my breath; I never got the dosage right with these super-humans like Saladin.

"Oh come on, a _tranq'_?" Saladin wondered, sounding rather exasperated.

"Go. We'll deal with him," I declared, steeling my gaze as I lowered the PSG-1. I would need all the resolve I had to face off against Saladin's spirit and Liquid's body.

"Come on, book it!" Octopus shouted as he and Mantis sprinted over to Ocelot and dragged him down the hall with him; Ocelot looked rather shell-shocked, but didn't protest.

"Wolf! What is this?" Saladin demanded. I took a deep breath to ready myself; I couldn't let my bubble get the better of me, not now.

"You can't stay here, Saladin," I proclaimed. Saladin stared at me with a look of shock on Liquid's face, but once that passed he narrowed Liquid's eyes and glared at me with utter disdain and contempt. I swallowed down Allah-knows-what; that glare sent a crack through the heart I thought was absent, and not just because it was Saladin, but because Liquid's normally adoring green eyes were giving me a look that communicated something near to hatred. Something about that was so jarring that it hurt.

Raven seemed to sense that my determination was slowly slipping, so he stepped between 'Saladin' and I and said, "You do not belong here, spirit of Big Boss. Where is Liquid?"

Saladin moved Liquid's mouth into a smirk and replied, "Heh, we switched places. He's warming the bench for me on the other side."

"Then return from whence you came and do not trouble this world again. _Bitch_," Raven demanded, narrowing his eyes at Saladin.

Saladin gritted his teeth and snapped, "Hmph! You'll have to send me back there yourself!"

"So be it!" Raven proclaimed. I bit my lower lip; no matter how strong Raven was, I wasn't sure he'd be able to fight off Saladin! But the showdown never happened, for right then 'Saladin' finally fell to the ground, the tranq' kicking in.

"That took _way _too long," Raven remarked, turning back to me.

I smiled sheepishly and replied, "Yeah, it's hard to get the dosage right for super-humans like Saladin." Right then Ocelot walked past us with a determined look on his face, Mantis and Octopus on his heels.

"Where are you going?" I asked, narrowing my eyes in suspicion.

"If we're going to get rid of Big Boss, we need help," Ocelot replied, stopping as he reached me.

"Glad to hear you've come to your senses," Mantis remarked with a somewhat satisfied tone.

"That isn't the Big Boss I remember," Ocelot muttered. "And I'm not big on getting my eyes gouged out, either."

"So you have some idea of where to get help?" Raven questioned.

"Yeah. Octopus, Mantis and I… We head to Russia," Ocelot replied.

"Not your GRU pals again," Mantis groaned.

Ocelot glared at him and snapped, "No, into the wilderness. The mountains of Tselinoyarsk."

Octopus raised an eyebrow in puzzlement and wondered, "What the hell are we going to find out there?"

Ocelot was silent for a second before answering, "I know this guy who works with dead people."

_For anyone who cares, the title chapter comes from the quote "There can be only one Big Boss"._


	13. Chapter 13: Cairo Campaign

_LAST TIME, Wolf gave Liquid back de tags, Big Boss made Liquid GTFO of his own mind, Ocelot got abused, and BB got knocked the fuck out. NOW WE'RE HERE AT A NEW CHAPTER AND THERE REALLY ISN'T ANYTHING TO CONCLUDE THIS TIME AROUND SO YEAH ENJOY I DON'T OWN ANYTHING 8DD Oh, and if you saw what I did thar with Red Dingo you win the internet. And the title is only sort of relevant. I just thought it sounded cool.  
_

_**-Cairo Campaign-**_

Ocelot, Mantis and Octopus left for Tselinoyarsk immediately afterwards, leaving Raven and I alone to watch over Saladin. Not a position I was especially happy to be stuck in, but I didn't think that being in Russia would be quite enjoyable either around this time of year. The two of us were kept there for nearly a day before anything happened. Raven and I decided to take shifts in watching over Saladin; Raven's lasted the majority of the time we were still at HQ, and mine started an hour or two before things were shaken up. It was around the middle of the night, and I watched 'Saladin' sleep with a melancholy countenance; at least when he wasn't conscious I could pretend that it was still Liquid there…

Right as I thought that, Saladin barely opened one of Liquid's eyes, looking to see if the coast was clear. I narrowed my own eyes.

"Still here, Saladin," I snapped.

"Christ, woman, don't you ever go to sleep?" Saladin wondered, dropping his facade of rest.

"Not when watching over a possessed coworker," I replied coldly. "And besides, I'm addicted to tranquilizers. I can't sleep anyway."

"God, I thought of all people _you _would be the one to want me back," Saladin grumbled.

"Death is Allah's little way of saying that you've fulfilled your purpose here. It's meant to be permanent," I remarked. "Coming back is a sin. Yes, having you back might've been nice, but not when Liquid has to pay for it."

"Right, Allah," Saladin scoffed, rolling his eyes. "Liquid had his chance to prove himself and he failed. It's obvious that he was the worthless one–"

"I don't want to harm Liquid, Saladin, so I suggest you not finish that sentence," I growled, switching the PSG-1 to a firing position quicker than I could ever remember doing it before. Saladin widened Liquid's eyes a bit only at the speed of my quick draw, not at the quick draw itself.

"Why so protective of Liquid, huh? Is it just because he's a clone of me?" Saladin wondered. I felt a familiar rage simmering in the pit of my stomach.

"That's no reason to protect and care about someone," I retorted. Saladin stared at me for a little while, trying to figure me out… Liquid's eyes widened a little bit when Saladin cracked the code of my emotions and actions.

"You've got some kind of crush on him, don't you?" Saladin asked accusingly. I bit my tongue; I'd never get anywhere by denying it.

"That's a little shallow, Wolf. Moving onto one of my sons right after me–"

"You shut the hell up right now or I'll paint one right between your eyes. That is not the reason I care for Liquid and it never will be, get it?" I snarled, pushing down on the trigger just a bit and gritting my teeth. Insulting both Liquid and me was a final straw, but I didn't want to hurt Liquid; I didn't think I'd truly be able to anyways.

"Wolf, someone's here for Big Boss," I heard Campbell say from the doorway.

"Not a goddamn chance. Tell this guy that he can–"

"I can what?" I stopped gritting my teeth and my snarl fell; I slowly looked over my shoulders to behold President Sears giving me a stern look of warning. I grinned a wide, nervous grin.

"– He can let himself in while I leave to go shoot some squirrels," I finished, nearly sprinting out the door mid-sentence and leaving Sears alone with Saladin. I stopped just outside the door and turned to Campbell.

"Wait, why is the president here?" I asked.

"He said that he needed FOXHOUND for an important mission even with Liquid incapacitated," Campbell replied. My eyebrows furrowed; how did Sears expect us to work while only half of us were even here? But nonetheless, I went to the briefing room and met up with Raven on my way there. We waited in there for several minutes before Saladin, Campbell and Sears came in, Saladin wearing Liquid's trench coat and grumbling something under his breath I couldn't catch. Campbell turned on the screen in the table, and my eyes lit up the minute I saw a map of Egypt appear on it. I had missed the desert dearly…

"So, what's the story?" Saladin wondered, sounding disinterested.

"A group of insurgents raided a weapons convoy along this route here," Sears began, indicating the route as he mentioned it on the map, "They took several hostages in their raid and redirected the convoy along this route towards their base, which is here. We sent Dead Cell, an anti-terrorist unit, to rescue to hostages and take out the terrorists. Their last transmission said that they had rescued the hostages but three of their own had been captured in the process. Your mission is to rescue the three members of Dead Cell taken captive and neutralize the terrorists."

"Don't we have better things to do with our time than bail out some greenwood anti-terrorist squad who got way in over their heads?" Saladin wondered, raising one of Liquid's eyebrows.

"Dead Cell is no rookie unit," Sears countered, "True, I didn't officially commission them until a few months ago, but they are all experienced operatives. They're meant to be a Navy counterpart to FOXHOUND."

"Pfft, that's _rich_," Saladin laughed. Sears narrowed his eyes, but kept quiet; he seemed oddly hostile towards Saladin…

"We leave for Egypt in two hours. I've arranged for one of our local agents to meet us when we arrive," Campbell added.

Saladin widened Liquid's eyes, actually looking interested for once, and asked, "Wait, wait– you're coming with us?"

"Of course. I'm coordinating this operation on site," Campbell replied. Saladin stared at him for a second or two before turning to Sears with an incredulous expression.

"You seriously expect me to take orders from him? After San Hieronymo I don't think I could bear doing that ever again," Saladin remarked. Both Campbell and Sears glared at Saladin this time.

"You will if you don't want your internal organs to become your _ex_ternal organs," Sears snapped. My eyes widened; they put a bomb on him? Was I the only one here who still remembered that the body belonged to Liquid? Perhaps I was just the only one that cared.

True to Campbell's word, we were on the plane to Egypt in two hours. I spent the entire trip looking out the window, since I knew if I didn't I'd spend it glaring at Saladin while beating myself up for figuratively glaring at Liquid. I thought about him for a good part of the trip; I wondered where he was now, and how he was doing. Had he gone to Paradise, or had he been sent to Hell? Perhaps he had ended up in some sort of limbo between them from how he had been forced out of his body; I shuddered when I thought of that one. I imagined this limbo as a blank void with nothing around for miles… somehow, that was far more frightening than eternal punishment of body and mind.

We arrived some time later, and as our plane lowered onto the runway I had to restrain myself from bouncing in my seat like an excited child while I watched the sand get nearer and nearer. I was the first one off the plane when we landed, a gigantic grin on my face and all troubles forgotten. We were some distance away from the cities, nearly smack-dab in the middle of the desert; I breathed in the sand-filled wind and beheld the sand dunes before me with a look of utter exultance. The heat, the sand, the wind, it was all nearly identical to the Syrian Desert; I felt like I had come home, and it was like nothing I had ever felt before.

Saladin was next off the plane after me, and he forced Liquid's face into a frown when he did get out here. Of course he was accustomed to this kind of temperature and terrain, but that didn't mean that he had to _like _it. Campbell was off next, but I didn't really care about his reaction to this environment. Raven's, however, was a little more interesting. From the minute he stepped out here he looked instantly uncomfortable; I grimaced, his discomfort was understandable. It was how I felt when I went up to his home, Alaska: completely out of my element and not used to the temperatures at all. I wondered how different his situation might've been than mine for a moment or two, but decided it was best not to dwell on the subject.

"So, where's this agent of ours?" Raven asked, trying not to let his discomposure show.

"Been 'ere the whole time. Open yer bloody eyes fer a change, mate," a nearby Australian accent remarked. I turned, looking to find the source of that accent, to see a rather tall man who looked like he hadn't shaved for a day or two; the only things about his clothing that stood out to me were his sunglasses, his typical Australian slouch hat, and a red collared shirt he had cuffed up to his elbows underneath a vest that matched the general color scheme of the rest of his clothes (that being brown brown and more brown). He had a relatively large rifle slung over his shoulder in a way I found rather familiar; it clicked several seconds later. This man was a fellow sniper.

"My apologies," Raven remarked semi-sheepishly.

The Australian waved it off and said, "No worries."

"Right. Raven, Liquid, Wolf, this is Red Dingo. He was with the main unit, but he left around the time you unofficially joined, Wolf," Campbell explained, looking to me when he addressed me directly. This drew Dingo's attention to me as well, and after he looked me up and down surprisingly quick he grinned a slightly predatory grin. I refrained from letting out a groan.

Dingo closed the distance between us rather quickly, saying after he did, "Y'know Sheila', ya don't 'ave to call me by my codename. You can call me Bruce if ya want."

I stepped back some, trying to bring some of the distance back, and said politely, "I think I'll just stick to your codename for now, thank you." Right then, I noticed his gun in a little more detail; the workmanship on the firearm was superb, I could tell already. It looked relatively old, and it was absolutely beautiful through sniper standards.

I stepped closer again and said, "That gun, is it–"

"Stanchion Anti-Tank rifle. Point fifty-fife. She's an old girl, but I've been through 'ell and back with 'er. Wouldn't trade 'er fer anythin' else," Dingo replied, his grin changing to one of pride as he described his gun to me. All my annoyance with his flirting was gone, and it was if I was just talking sniper to sniper.

"A real classic. I've never even seen one before," I commented. Dingo and I began to walk side by side along with everyone else towards the base; I slung the PSG-1 over my shoulders as we did.

"So, you were with the main unit 'till the nineties, right?" I asked.

"That'd be about right. The Gulf War, among other things, brought me back out 'ere again. Fer the best, I reckon. I never much liked bein' away from the desert," Dingo answered. I smiled a bit wider; we had more in common than I had first thought.

"I know the feeling. I grew up running around the Syrian Desert in Iraq, I naturally grew to love it," I remarked. Dingo raised an eyebrow at that.

"Iraq? You're from Iraq?" he echoed. I could understand his perplexed-ness; I hardly looked like most Kurds and my accent didn't fit with my ethnicity.

"Yes. I'm a Kurd," I replied with a small nod.

Dingo muttered something I couldn't hear before he asked, "Speakin' of the desert, what's this job about anyways?" Saladin quickened his pace just a bit so that he was walking even with me on my other side right then.

"Raven was just giving me the details on that," Saladin cut in in a very impressive but not quite perfect imitation of Liquid's voice. "A bunch of insurgents raided a weapons convoy. We're here to bail out the guys who botched the last hostage rescue."

"Really. And where did this raid 'appen?" Dingo wondered, sounding a touch nervous.

"Not too far from here, actually," Saladin replied. "Raven suspects that the terrorists were getting help from local mercenaries. See, the trucks were hit with anti-tank rounds. That type of ammo is pretty obscure in these parts."

Saladin then shot Dingo a glare and added, "Especially _point fifty-five caliber _rounds."

"Heh, funny ol' world ain't it?" Dingo remarked, trying to brush off the subject as quickly as possible. I raised an eyebrow, but said nothing; I was a hired gun once before, I knew what it was like.

As we neared the base and Campbell spoke with a rather plain-looking man calling himself Colonel Jackson, I stole a glance over at Raven; immediately I winced. He looked like he had just run the entire length of the Sahara in one day on the hottest day of the year.

"You alright mate?" Dingo asked, looking over at Raven as he noticed the shaman's condition.

"Not used to this kind of temperature," Raven replied all in one breath. Luckily for him and unfortunately for me, we were inside the base a few seconds later; it was far cooler in there.

"The big bloke ain't the desert type, is he?" Dingo remarked.

"No. He's from Alaska, he's more suited to the snow," I replied, looking over at Raven and listening to Campbell and Jackson as they conversed nearby.

"Fatman, Oldboy and Vamp are all being held in the terrorist compound," Jackson explained. "The Chinaman and I escorted the hostages from the convoy back here. He's scouting the area now." I could see something snap just a tiny bit in Raven's mind when he heard Jackson say 'the chinaman'.

"Ex_cuse _me?" Raven exclaimed, turning towards Jackson looking pissed-off. "The Chinaman? That's what you call your own comrade? How would you like to be called 'white cracker asshole'?"

"Raven, his _codename _is 'Chinaman'," Campbell said calmly, trying to mediate the situation.

"Have your people not read our files yet?" Jackson asked.

"What kind of fucked up codename system does Dead Cell use?" Raven demanded, his anger not assuaged quite yet.

"Look, _he _picked it himself. I told him it was a bad idea," Jackson sighed. "You don't know how many times I've had this exact conversation." Raven went very quickly from pissed to perplexed.

"Why would anyone call himself his ethnicity?" Raven wondered. Nearly on cue, a man of some indiscernible east-Asian race jumped through a nearby open window to land behind Raven; I nearly jumped, but then I raised an eyebrow when I saw he was wearing a wetsuit… What kind of idiot was this guy?

"I don't," the Asian man replied irately, "I'm Vietnamese, thank you very much for asking." Raven turned to face Chinaman, looking bamboozled by this point.

"It… makes even less sense that way," Raven remarked.

"Oh, well sorry my codename doesn't live up to your _fascist _standards!" Chinaman snapped.

"Oh God, not this again," Jackson groaned, smacking himself on the forehead.

"_What?_" Raven wondered, his bamboozlement doubling.

"Yeah, sure, _act _confused," Chinaman continued to rant. "I know your type! You think I'm not good enough for Special Ops! I know exactly what you're thinking. 'What could a Navy swimming champion and special effects expert possibly be good for in an anti-terrorist squad? Especially in the desert, where there isn't even any water to swim in?'"

"Except for, y'know, that whole 'longest river in the whole bloody world' thingo," Dingo commented.

"Leave him be, Dingo," I said. This was actually getting rather funny, I wanted to watch without interruption.

"You're a Navy _swimming champion_?" Raven echoed, his bamboozlement through the roof as I tried to hold down a chuckle.

"_And _special effects expert! Don't forget it!" Chinaman shot back. "But I've got news for you, Jack! I just spent four hours under the desert sun in a wetsuit! Pretty stupid, right? Well I did it just to prove that I could! Now I'm gonna pass out!" True to his word, Chinaman fell flat on his face unconscious a few seconds later. I let out the chuckles I was holding down.

"Trust me, it was for the best. He was about thirty seconds away from challenging you to a breath-holding contest," Jackson commented.

"Where did you _find _this guy?" Raven wondered, looking over to Jackson.

"You haven't even _met _the weird ones yet," Jackson replied.

"The rest of the unit couldn't possibly be as loony as that piker," Dingo commented, following me over as I walked to Raven's side; Saladin followed us as well, though he paused for a bit to nudge Chinaman's knocked-out form with Liquid's foot.

"See for yourself." Jackson handed Raven a large-ish file and Raven flipped it open with a curious expression.

"_Codename: Vamp. Romanian. Impaled by a falling cross when his church was bombed, rumored to have survived by drinking the blood of his dead family_," Raven read aloud.

"That's it? We already have a guy who drinks blood," I scoffed, reading over Raven's shoulder as Dingo read over mine.

"Keep going," Jackson 'ordered'.

"_Expert knife thrower_," Raven continued, sending a painful memory of Rat shooting through my mind, "_Capable of gravity-defying feats of acrobatics such as running on water_– Is this a joke?"

"If that crazy bird Manic Rat could do it why can't that bloke?" Dingo wondered.

"It's not physically possible," Raven insisted, narrowing his eyes.

"Nope. But I've seen him do it… eight times now," Jackson replied with a light shrug.

"Bullshit. Let me see that," Saladin demanded, snatching the file out of Raven's hands. "_Habitually drinks the blood of slain enemies. Psychological profile indicates a dangerous obsession with morbidity._"

"Well, at least his codename makes logical sense. 'Vamp' for 'Vampire'," Raven commented.

"Oh I _wish _that's what it meant…" Jackson muttered.

"What _else _could it mean?" I asked; Jackson was about to answer when his radio began to crackle with the beginnings of a transmission. I rolled my eyes and tuned him out, focusing on Saladin again.

"Here, get a load of this one. _Codename: Fatman. Demolitions and bomb disposal expert. Capable of rapidly assembling and dismantling any explosive device. Due to his stupendous obesity, Fatman wears __**roller skates **__increase his maneuverability,_" Saladin read.

"The president's got himself a real set of winners," I remarked sarcastically. Secretly I was wondering if there was going to be a chemical warfare specialist next.

"Dunno where ya'd find this many freaks outside of a sideshow," Dingo concurred.

"Oh my– this one has got to be a joke," Saladin proclaimed. "_Codename: Oldboy. Former general in the German army under the third Reich, served as a tactical advisor in the second world war._"

"He's a _Nazi_?" All of us– excluding Saladin– 'echoed', looking closer at the file in disbelief.

"He couldn't have been a Nazi general," Raven insisted, "That would make him–"

"A hundred and six," Jackson 'finished', turning off the radio and turning back to us.

"That's impossible," Raven insisted further, "Nobody that old could be in active service."

"Actually, it's happened before," Saladin mentioned. "One of the members of the Cobra Unit, The End, was a hundred and thirty-two years old. But then again, he was part tree, so he was probably cheating somehow." I narrowed my eyes at Saladin; for the sake of his cover he had better not elaborate on that.

A few minutes later, all of us– except for Chinaman, he was still knocked out– were grouped around a whiteboard with a simple drawing of the enemy base on it, ready to be briefed on how we'd go about this. There weren't any chairs, so we all had to stand, but that wasn't too important.

"Listen good, people," Jackson began. "This is the layout of the enemy camp. There are two entrances on the South and West sides. Our guys are being held in the basement of this building with the red dot. Now, Oldboy suggested over the radio earlier that we shut off the generator before launching the assault. It's in this building with the yellow dot."

Dingo squinted, lowered his sunglasses just a bit, and asked, "What yella' dot?"

"Yeah, I don't see it either," Raven added.

"It's… there, upper right-hand corner," Jackson said in a semi-exasperated tone while pointing to it. I squinted at the point Jackson indicated, and soon it became evident where the dot was.

"Oh, now I see it. It… That's a really bad color," I remarked.

"I've got two pens, red and yellow. What more do you want from me?" Jackson shot back.

"Just saying, is all," I defended.

"You could've made a red 'x' instead," Campbell suggested.

"You must have a black pen too. Otherwise you wouldn't have been able to draw the rest of this," Raven pointed out matter-of-factly.

"Will you all shut up? This is a hostage rescue, not art school," Saladin snapped, shooting us a glare with Liquid's eyes.

"Thank you," Jackson said.

"No problem. Now obviously I should be the one to go in and cut the power," Saladin proclaimed.

"Alright, you and Chinaman will go," Jackson agreed.

Saladin narrowed Liquid's eyes and snapped, "I don't need backup, especially from that stooge. What's he gonna do, _swim _his way in?"

"No, he'll create a distraction. He's good at that," Jackson replied.

Saladin forced Liquid's face into an arrogant smirk as he remarked, "I don't need a distraction either."

"Well then how exactly do you plan to go in undetected?" Jackson wondered with a slightly irate tone.

Saladin was silent for a second or two before he asked, "Do you have a cardboard box lying around anywhere you're not using?" I raised an eyebrow; just what was he going to do with a cardboard box? But nonetheless, we set out for the terrorist camp and got there around nightfall. While Saladin broke in his box, Dingo and I looked around for an adequate sniping spot. After a minute or so we found the perfect perch, an extremely tall sand dune about a half-mile away that was large enough to overlook the entire camp. It was almost like the desert had made it just perfect for sniping.

Dingo and I took the opportunity to load our weapons while Saladin snuck into the compound. I was both amazed and a little perplexed by how well Saladin's plan was working; all he was doing was shuffling around underneath a cardboard box! It was almost sad.

"Either the insurgents are really stupid or he's just really good," I muttered to myself as Saladin ditched his cardboard box and snuck into the building housing the generator.

"Why not settle fer both?" Dingo wondered, cracking a smirk. Right then, all the lights in the compound went out in one fell swoop.

"Looks like it's go time," he remarked, his smirk widening.

I smirked as well and said, "Let's get started. You take the North end and I'll take the South."

"Don't want a night vision scope?" Dingo asked. He probably needed one, since he still had his sunglasses on. Allah knows why he was wearing them at night.

"Pfft, I could shoot a ninja on the dark side of the moon while wearing those shades of yours. These guys might as well have neon signs attached to their heads pointing straight towards them," I scoffed, my smirk widening as I took aim.

"My kind 'a bird," Dingo murmured as he took aim as well. And with that, it started. Raven and Chinaman burst through the West entrance while Dingo and I shot down any and all terrorists running around out here. Of course I was lost in the thrill of sniping, but I kept quiet and gunned them down efficiently, moving from one to the next without a sound… quite a contrast to Dingo.

I nearly botched my second shot when I heard him call after his first, "Thanks fer standin' still, wanker!" I had shot him a glare, but said nothing and kept my prime focus on the targets. It was rather distracting however with Dingo constantly saying things like "I'm gonna plant one right between yer eyes, ya panzer!", and "Bloody piker!", along with "Now _that _was a proper bloody rootin'!"

I got a little annoyed by it halfway, so when I paused to reload (my body count was higher, as was my number of expended bullets) I remarked, "I had no idea dingoes were this _loud_."

"A'course they are, 'specially when they're 'avin a good hunt," Dingo replied, grinning at me as he shot a terrorist he had aimed at previously. "But you've been quiet as a mouse. Not up fer howlin' tonight, Wolf? Or ain't ya enjoyin' yerself?"

"Of course I'm having a good time. I'm having a good run too," I said back. "The moon isn't right to howl at, however." We continued to gun down the insurgents one by one until there was only one left sprinting from the North side to the South. Dingo took aim at him, but something changed in his eyes and he lowered the Stanchion.

"You take the last shot," Dingo said. I gave him an incredulous look.

"You sure?" I asked.

"Eh, the wanker'll be on yer side soon enough anyways," Dingo replied with a shrug. I got the running insurgent right in my crosshairs and shot him down normal as anything.

Dingo grinned wide and asked, "So, was it good for you?" I glared at him, but did not retort; I had walked right into that one, I had no right to retaliate.

Raven's voice then crackled through on the radio, saying, "Wolf, Dingo, the hostage extraction was a success. Meet us a quarter mile from the South entrance to the compound."

"Roger that," I replied as Dingo got to his feet, helping me to mine after I ended the transmission. Getting down from the dune was a simple enough task, as was getting over to the meeting point. Saladin, Raven and Chinaman were there as well, along with a semi-greasy man in a trench coat staring weirdly at Saladin (Vamp) and a very old man wearing a monocle (Oldboy). I figured out their identities without even having seen their pictures, it was that obvious.

"Where's Fatman?" I asked.

"He went back about three minutes ago to do something or other," Raven replied irately. I winced, I could tell that Raven and Fatman rubbed each other the wrong way immediately. Well, that might've been because Raven had to pull Fatman out of the large hole Dead Cell had been put in, but that's just me. And right then a morbidly obese man in a strange suit came zooming up on roller skates, nearly making me jump into Dingo from the surprise. Looks like Fatman had finished whatever it is he was doing.

"Pretty light on 'is feet fer a lardass," Dingo remarked, both eyebrows raised.

"Are we done now?" Raven asked, glaring at Fatman.

"Yeah. Just wanted to leave my calling card," Fatman replied.

"What's that?" Raven questioned further. Right on cue, the terrorist compound exploded into a gigantic fireball, lighting up the cold desert night and making nearly everyone's eyes widen to the size of dinner plates.

"A smoking pile of rubble," Fatman replied smugly.

An hour or so later, we were on our way back to the United States. We were hitching a ride back with Dead Cell, since their plane was much nicer than ours (probably a perk of being the president's favorite pets), though our two units were sticking to different parts of the plane. Neither of our groups wanted to interact with each other more than was absolutely necessary. Sadly, Dingo wasn't going back to the US with us. I had grown to like him, but I understood that he had to stay in Egypt. We both promised to find some way to stay in touch though.

"Believe it or not, I think I'm actually going to miss him," I remarked on our way back.

Saladin let out a laugh, folding Liquid's arms behind Liquid's head, and said mockingly, "But not as much as you miss your dear Liquid."

I sent a crippling glare Saladin's way and hissed, "Don't get too comfortable in there, Saladin. I know that Liquid will have found a way to kick you out by this point."

"Ha! It took me decades to learn the ins and outs of being a spirit! Liquid can't do it in a couple days," Saladin laughed. "Well… Unless he somehow got help from _him_, but he's too wrapped up in his own little world to notice…"

Suddenly lightning flashed bright outside the plane, and when the flash of light died down a pale man stood behind Saladin. This man had receding, slicked-back silver hair and dark eyes behind rectangular glasses. One of the lenses was cracked, and a bloody tear streamed down from the eye behind the broken lens. He wore a black, poncho-esque raincoat over army fatigues, and he looked to be transparent.

The ghostly man was smiling an almost disturbing smile, and he held a sign in his hands that said, _"Are you quite sure of that, Big Boss?" _

Saladin forced a look of dread onto Liquid's face while I could feel my jaw hit the floor; things had gotten even more complicated than before.

_For the record, I'll probably post a short story of what was going on with Liquid in between last chapter and when he reappears next chapter. It'll probably be a three or four-shot. Just sayin'._


	14. Chapter 14: Fallen Barriers

_Hey all~! I had to break for my short Liquid story, but now we're back~! LAST TIME, Big Boss deduced that Wolf had the hots for Liquid, they all went to Egypt to rescue Dead Cell and have half a crossover with Team Fortress 2, Wolf got teh flirt'd with, Big Boss went all yo momma on his own son's ass, and The Sorrow showed up in a most ironic fashion. Now, we're back and better than ever with the end of an arc~! Let's go~! I own nothing, like, nothing nothing since none of my OCs are gonna show up from this point on as far as I know… Ahem. _

_**-Fallen Barriers-**_

Suddenly lightning flashed bright outside the plane, and when the flash of light died down a pale man stood behind Saladin. This man had receding, slicked-back silver hair and dark eyes behind rectangular glasses. One of the lenses was cracked, and a bloody tear streamed down from the eye behind the broken lens. He wore a black, poncho-esque raincoat over army fatigues, and he looked to be transparent.

The ghostly man was smiling an almost disturbing smile, and he held a sign in his hands that said,_ "Are you quite sure of that, Big Boss?"_ Saladin forced a look of dread onto Liquid's face while I could feel my jaw hit the floor; things had gotten even more complicated than before.

"You!" Saladin shouted, turning around to force a glare on Liquid's face in the ghostly man's direction.

With no warning the man's sign changed to say, _"One pronoun? That's all I get? I'm quite hurt." _I just couldn't stop staring or close my mouth, and I hope my reasons for doing so seem logical. As far as I could tell I was staring at a _ghost_!

"It's not polite to stare," Raven remarked, sending me a pointed half glare. That closed my mouth right up, and I instead looked sheepishly over at Raven. Indeed, though I had been staring at a ghost I had still forgotten my manners. And that was just terrible.

The sign changed once again as the ghostly man turned his attention to us to say, _"Forgive my sudden intrusion. I am The Sorrow." _

"Uh, Hi," I muttered, not entirely sure what to say in these circumstances. I'm quite sure most people wouldn't either, though the company I kept wasn't 'most people'.

"It's quite alright," Raven replied with a nod, "I am Vulcan Raven, while she is Sniper Wolf." My eyes kept darting over to The Sorrow, since I was unable to keep myself from staring at him completely.

"So let me guess, you decided to stop moping on that mountain of yours to help Liquid, but not me. Is that how it is?" Saladin spat, using Liquid's eyes to glare at The Sorrow. The Sorrow shot him his own glare.

_"If you must know, they specifically asked me to help him," _The Sorrow's sign read. I could not get over how easily the words on his sign changed.

"They? Who's 'they'?" Saladin asked, raising one of Liquid's eyebrows in confusion.

_"Revolver Ocelot, Psycho Mantis, and Decoy Octopus," _The Sorrow 'replied'.

"What's their plan then, huh?" Saladin wondered, folding Liquid's arms behind Liquid's head with Liquid's eyebrow still raised.

_"Octopus has taken Liquid's form so that he may possess his body as you have Liquid's. And then, you'll fight," _The Sorrow's sign explained. I furrowed my eyebrows; just what was the point of that course of action?

"Pff, body or no body he'll still never beat me," Saladin gloated with a grin.

_"You may have bested him a mental battle, but he might be able to defeat you in true combat," _The Sorrow's sign countered, The Sorrow narrowing his glasses-covered eyes a bit. Raven then seemed to have noticed something right then, because after a brief look of shock he glared daggers at The Sorrow.

"Wait a minute, you're going to displace Octopus's spirit?" Raven asked angrily.

The Sorrow turned to Raven, his sign changing to read, _"It will be necessary before all can be set right again." _

"_Any_ meddling with the natural order is abhorrent," Raven snapped, narrowing his eyes at The Sorrow. The Sorrow seemed to let out a small sigh before his sign changed again.

_"Look, in this one case it's for the best to meddle, just temporarily," _it read_, "And besides, by all accounts Octopus is perfectly useless." _

"Hard to argue with _that_," Raven muttered, his argument shot down quite expertly. I smirked at that; I was actually staring to like The Sorrow a bit.

The Sorrow then turned to Saladin and his sign changed to read, _"Speaking of meddling, I've forgotten why it is you're even here. If what I've heard is true, then you're not supposed to really be a spirit." _

Saladin rolled Liquid's eyes and snapped, "Fine, I'll tell you _again_. Maybe it'll be for their benefit this time."

Saladin cleared Liquid's throat before beginning, "After being blown to Hell for the second time, I still didn't quite die all the way, God knows why. Though I was pretty damn close to dying, mind you. With this in mind, those bastard Patriots picked me up and pumped me so full of nanomachines that I could barely see. In fact the whole thing put me into an artificially induced cryogenic coma! But all their screwing with the laws of nature and refusing to let a man die when his time had come forced me out of my own body. Seeing as a spirit can only possess his own body- or one that's close enough, i.e. Octopus- and I was shut out of mine, I decided to go after my 'sons'. Solid had already proved to me that his life was worth living. If Liquid had done the same, I would've moved onto Solidus and not given him a choice in the matter. But Liquid failed, so here I am. Satisfied?"

I ground my teeth, but kept it discreet. Sure, it was terrible what those 'Patriots' people (whoever the Hell they were) had done to Saladin, but that was no excuse to displace someone's spirit and steal their life. Maybe I was just biased because this was Liquid we were talking about, but now wasn't the time for that. However before I could ponder this further I realized something. We had been stationary for about fifteen minutes now, and when I went over to the window I realized that we were right outside of headquarters. I stared out the window for a little bit, incredulous, before turning back to the others.

"You guys do realize that we've been back at base for about fifteen minutes now, right?" I asked, pointing over my shoulder with my thumb at the window. Everyone looked to me, then each other, but didn't say a word on our lack of perception. Instead we all just decided to exit the plane silently. The silence ended once we got outside, since it was pouring rain out there. I cringed uncomfortably; rain wasn't my thing.

However, my attention was drawn away from my discomfort when lightning flashed through the sky as it did when The Sorrow first appeared, revealing Liquid (in Octopus's body, but seeing as it was taking Liquid's shape I decided I might as well refer to Liquid as Liquid) standing atop the building, arms crossed over his chest as he glared down at Saladin. He was thoroughly drenched by the rain, but the wind to go with it was whipping his coat and hair around. All in all, Liquid looked badass up there. I gasped when I first saw him, elated to see him again in his own body.

"Hey! Old man! Get the hell up here so we can fight!" Liquid shouted, uncrossing his arms as he did so. It felt just so right to hear Liquid's voice coming from 'his' mouth again.

Saladin 'grinned' and yelled back, "Calm down, I'll be up there soon enough to kick your ass again!"

"You wish!" Liquid scoffed loudly. Not wasting any time, we made our way into the building and up to the roof. We picked up Naomi along the way, since I didn't want her to miss this and she didn't want to miss it either (though she wasn't too happy about the rain either). Octopus's spirit also showed up along the way, probably just to watch the show. We all hugged the entrance to the roof, while Liquid and Saladin stood to either side of the roof directly in the center. The identical father and son glared at each other, their anger smoldering beneath the surface. The only difference between them- on the surface, at least- was the fact that Saladin was wearing his old dog tags.

They stared at each other for a second or two more before Liquid made the first move, closing the distance between them and throwing a left hook. Saladin blocked it effortlessly and delivered a low kick to Liquid's shin. Liquid grunted in pain and attempted to get back on both feet, but Saladin didn't give him an inch and performed an overhead flip kick, sending Liquid back a few feet.

Liquid nearly fell over, but he caught himself just right and leapt back at Saladin, delivering four quick kicks. The fourth one hit Saladin straight in the jaw, and as Saladin tried to recover from the unexpected barrage Liquid kneed Saladin hard in the stomach and smashed his fist into his 'father's face. While Saladin was still reeling from the storm of blows, Liquid jumped into the air and performed an ax-heel kick, aiming to bring his foot down on Saladin.

Saladin saw it coming a moment too soon and grabbed Liquid's leg, swinging him overhead and smashing him into the ground. Liquid let out another grunt of pain before kicking Saladin off and leaping to his feet again. He threw another punch, and Saladin blocked it before sending one of his own that Liquid dodged.

"What exactly is the point of this supposed to be?" Saladin asked above the rain, wind and thunder. "We can't exactly fight to the death here, you know."

"He's right, what is this going to accomplish?" Naomi asked, turning to The Sorrow. I had that exact same question.

_"In order to reclaim his body, Liquid must feel stronger than his father," _The Sorrow's sign read.

"He has to prove to himself that he can beat Big Boss," Raven added. Both Naomi and I nodded in tandem, both of us understanding now.

Right then Ocelot and Mantis burst through the door to the roof, startling Naomi at least and making my eyes widen a bit. Mantis's leg was in a cast, so he was floating, while Ocelot's left arm was in a sling. I supposed that they had probably gotten into another fight. Naomi narrowed her eyes, obviously not pleased that they were injured and out of the infirmary.

"What'd we miss?" Mantis asked semi-casually while Ocelot had lost the ability to speak from how amazed he was with this fight.

"Nothing much, but enough," I replied cryptically with a small smirk. Mantis grumbled something under his breath before everyone returned their attention back to the fight. Liquid hit Saladin with a roundhouse kick, but Saladin was able to block Liquid's next punch.

"Really kid, how long are you going to keep this up?" Saladin wondered, throwing a punch of his own to be dodged by Liquid.

"About one punch longer than you," Liquid replied.

"You can't beat me."

"My brother did."

"He had a rocket launcher."

"You had a _twenty-five foot tall walking nuclear death tank._" Saladin got Liquid with a right hook right then, and Liquid staggered back. He grunted as he closed one eye to catch his balance a bit.

_"Octopus's concoction is starting to kick in," _The Sorrow 'remarked' with a worried expression. Liquid seemed to realize that too.

"I've gotta end this quick," Liquid muttered just under his breath, putting some distance between himself and Saladin before pulling a pistol from nowhere. Everyone's eyes widened; that came entirely out of left field! Saladin looked the most surprised at this new development.

But then he 'glared' at Liquid and exclaimed, "Oh come on, are you _kidding _me? Look, putting aside the fact that you're pointing a gun at your own head, since when did you even _carry_ a gun?"

"Since today. And from now on," Liquid replied with a light shrug.

"Come on, what happened to 'guns are for pussies, real men fight with their fists?'" Saladin wondered with a haughty, sarcastic grin.

Liquid narrowed his eyes, his glare intensifying, before he shot back, "Oh no. That was the old Liquid. The _dumbass_ Liquid. The Liquid who'd cut his arm off to prove he could get by without it. I realized something while I was dead. My entire life I've been obsessed with proving you wrong. Proving that I'm not garbage, that I can be the best in spite of all my recessive genes. But I've figured you out, old man. I know why you always told me I was worthless. Why you destroyed my self-confidence, made me think I had to do everything the hard way to earn any respect. I'm better than you. And you know it. If you hadn't turned me into such an insecure showoff, history would only remember you as _Liquid Snake's father_."

I didn't know what anyone else's reactions to that speech were other than my own. All I could do is just stare wide-eyed ahead at Liquid, impressed, shocked, proud, and blushing bright red. I had a feeling that something was different about him when we saw him for the first time, and this must've meant one thing: his memories were back.

"You know, I couldn't be happier at your emotional breakthrough," Saladin remarked sarcastically, "But blowing your own head off isn't going to do much."

Liquid smirked and replied, "You're right." Quicker than I could process, Liquid moved the gun down and shot 'Saladin' straight through the stomach. 'His' eyes widened in shock (along with nearly everyone else's), while my hands flew over my mouth.

"Holy _shit!_" Naomi exclaimed.

"You… stupid… son of a…" Saladin choked out, pressing his hand over the wound as blood seeped out fast, falling to his knees as he did and quickly losing consciousness. Liquid knelt down as well, closing his eyes and gritting his teeth in concentration. A few seconds later, a blur of yellow, brown and skin color flew from Liquid's head into the head once belonging to Saladin. Octopus's spirit said something I couldn't hear as his body fell to the ground as well, his shape returning in a display so grotesque I couldn't bear to tell you the details. Well, now things were less confusing. I ignored Octopus and ran over to Liquid, ignoring all warnings and kneeling by his side with a worried look. He had to have succeeded, he just _had _to…

"L-Liquid? … O-or Saladin, I guess… One of you wake up and talk to me!" I demanded, almost hysterical. I couldn't go through another false alarm like when Saladin first took over… Liquid's eyes opened halfway, Liquid letting out a groan before he looked up at me with his green eyes returned to normal.

"Hey Wolf," Liquid murmured. Immediately I smiled a relieved smile; that was Liquid's voice!

"Liquid! Oh thank Allah," I breathed, hugging him tight despite the fact that doing so might hurt him even more. I was just so happy to see him back…

"Oh my God, you shot yourself in the stomach _point-blank_," Mantis proclaimed, floating over with a hidden incredulous expression as I broke the hug and smiled over at him as well. Everyone else gravitated over to us, naturally.

Liquid grinned and replied, "I have a talent for not dying when I oughta." I chuckled a bit at that remark. Octopus got right to his feet right then with a huge grin.

"And I'm back too! Awesome!" he exclaimed. Right then his happy face went mostly blank, the concoction kicking in. Octopus fell over right there, mumbling gibberish to himself as his higher brain functions shut off. I smiled sheepishly at that, letting out a chuckle of the same nature.

"… Well, things are finally back to normal, I'd say," Raven remarked. I nodded in agreement with an "Mm-hmm".

I stood up, slinging on of Liquid's arms over my shoulders as I did, and said in a soothing tone, "Come on, let's get back inside so Naomi can fix you up."

"Let's get out of the rain before we all get sick," Naomi added with a grimace. I nodded in agreement as she came over and took Liquid's over arm over her shoulders as well. We all made our way inside, and soon enough we got down to the infirmary. I didn't worry too much this time around as Naomi and Dr. Clark removed the bullet, cleaned and bandaged the wound. I knew by now that Liquid was made of sterner stuff than that.

My bubble was still there, but it was about as thin as a real bubble and nearly ready to break apart at any second. That brought a genuine smile to my face, almost as much as when Berthold came bounding up to me while Liquid was getting patched up. But what made me grin was an announcement from Campbell a few weeks later that we were going on a mission to Baghdad. Liquid had given me back Saladin's dog tags between now and then, and I had brought those and Ganju's rifle with me. I was determined to do something to fully make my bubble fall.

When we arrived in Baghdad, I had felt yet another surge of happiness. I wasn't out in the desert, but I could smell it from the irrigated landscape. Seeing the Euphrates when we flew in brought back fond memories, and I was determined to finish this mission in as little time as possible. We were expected to take three days, but my constant pushing and overachieving left us with two days of hanging around in Baghdad. I had been about to set out on foot from the embassy for the ruin I knew so well, but Liquid had stopped me and demanded I let him take me via helicopter.

"You told me it took you a month to get here from there, imagine how long a round-trip would be," he had said with a smirk. I had relented to that, and the helicopter ride out there didn't take very long at all. Then again, Liquid was flying it as fast as he possibly could, and I was frightened half to death the whole time. He landed right next to the ruin, and when the rotor blades stopped turning I stepped out with a somewhat uneasy face. I smiled soon after; it was exactly the same as I remembered it. My joy increased tenfold. I was _home_. I slowly walked up to the ruin, the old rifle and dog tags in hand while I bit my lip. I stopped right in the center of the main platform before kneeling down and placing the two items on the ground before me.

I sat in silence, regarding these two treasured items and my home with a blank face, for several minutes. I could hear jackals and other animals milling about in the distance; it made sense, for the sun was setting.

After a while, I said, "Hey, Ganju, Saladin… How have you been? I have no idea about you, Ganju, but Saladin… Saladin's probably really pissed off." I spared a little laugh before continuing, "Ganju… You were my world for one whole week. You taught me so much, you shaped me into who I am. You were my friend, my teacher, and you made me kill you. I suppose I had to learn what loss by my own hands felt like. Thank you, Ganju. Saladin… You were my first love. I was head over heels for you, and when you 'died'… I… I lost a bit of myself. I put up walls, and I blocked off my heart. Because of that I haven't moved on. Now… Now after everything that's happened, I think I'm ready to keep going."

I blinked right then, and when my eyes opened again they widened. That bubble I had lived with for so long… it was gone. I could see clearly, and the colors around me were just so vibrant. And right then, my happiness, my sorrow, all of it came rushing in at an intensity I had never seen before. My vision blurred just a little as a wet sensation rolled down from my eyes to my chin. My throat hurt, and I could hear myself sobbing and shaking.

"Wh-what? I- I'm c-crying?" I choked out between sobs. It made sense, I had been holding back all those times I wanted to cry, and now it was all rushing forwards.

"I-I'm going t-to miss you, I-I already m-miss you," I sobbed, doubling over, "G-goodbye, I- I- I-" I stopped trying to form coherent words and just let the sobs wrack my body. It felt both good and bad to cry after all this time. I kept on for about a minute before I heard footsteps and two arms wrapped around me. I was alone out here, so it must've been Liquid. I looked down at his arms… Had he always been that tan? And had his coat always been that exact shade of somewhat reddish-brown? My sobs stopped, but the two of us stayed like this for a minute more before I gently broke the embrace and we both stood up.

I turned to Liquid and had to hide any of my shock; his hair… It was much yellower than mine, and his eyes… I just realized how absolutely beautiful they were. A bright, vibrant green, and even more beautiful than Saladin's one sky blue eye. I could feel myself blushing as I stared at them.

"Wolf… Are you alright now?" Liquid asked. I smiled and nodded.

"Yeah. It's been a while since I've been alright, but now I am," I replied. "… What about you?"

Liquid blinked owlishly at me in surprise before he asked, "What do you mean?"

"I mean, are _you _alright now? I mean, everything you went through must've had you seriously doubting yourself, and…" I trailed off.

Liquid smiled and replied, "Trust me, I'm fine now." His smile then fell as he walked around me and knelt by the rifle and dog tags. He gingerly ran his fingertips over the dog tags with an unreadable expression.

"… I hate him. I have every right to, considering the Hell he gave me in my childhood," Liquid murmured softly. "I hate him more than anything in the world, but… There's still a part of me that…"

"… Part of you cares about him," I finished. Liquid turned to me with that same unreadable expression.

"Yes. And I hate it," Liquid said, glaring at the tags and clenching his hands into fists. I smiled softly and put a hand on his shoulder reassuringly.

"Don't hate it. Caring about your family… It just means you're human," I said, giving his shoulder a small squeeze. Liquid stared forlornly at the tags for a moment longer before he stood up, my hand sliding off his shoulder as he did.

He looked over at me, this time with a smile, and said, "Come on, let's get back." I nodded, and as we walked over to the helicopter I wondered something…

Could I be in love with Liquid?


	15. Chapter 15: To Russia

_LAST TIME, Liquid was all like BITCH GET OUT MAH BODY to his dad, successfully bitchslapped the old man back to the spirit world, Wolf was all like YAEYZ while everyone else was all like AWESOME, then they fluffed in Iraq and GOT TO DA CHOPPA again to go 'home'. NOW WE'RE SKIPPING ABOUT THREE OR FOUR DAYS BECAUSE WE CAN AND WE DIDN'T HAVE MUCH OF A CLIFFHANGER DID YOU KNOW I LOVE CAPS? I own nothing, let's go. _

_**-To Russia-**_

"Ow! That _hurt!_" I snapped as Naomi stuck the sterilized needle into my wrist, glaring at her.

She grinned teasingly and replied, "It's supposed to do that." It had been a few days since we got home from Iraq. Of course I was sad to leave my home for the second time, but there wasn't much I could do. And apparently today FOXHOUND was getting set up with some kind of nanomachine-thing. I hadn't been paying much attention when Campbell told us about it, so I didn't really know _what _Naomi was injecting into my bloodstream. For all I knew it could've been Heroin.

"So wait, now that we've got these nanomachines we can take digital pictures with our eyes or something?" Liquid wondered, sounding confused as he stood up and rolled his sleeve down after Dr. Clark finished injecting him with the same thing.

"It's _Codec_ Liquid, not _Kodak_," Naomi snapped, narrowing her eyes at him a bit.

"You weren't paying attention either, were you?" I wondered with a smirk.

"Not even a little," Liquid replied with a slight yawn, "Being half-asleep will do that to you." Naomi rolled her eyes and pulled the needle out after the last of the nanomachines had entered my system. As she cleaned off the needle and did whatever else to my arm, Naomi kept glancing over at my chest.

"Hey, keep your eyes to yourself," I demanded, my smirk widening a bit.

"Sorry. But… why do you wear your shirt like that?" Naomi wondered as I put my glove back on and rolled my sleeve back down. Indeed, the zipper on my shirt was pulled down all the way to my stomach, exposing the entire middle of my cleavage like I used to do.

"Liquid, why don't you give her the answer I gave you when you asked?" I asked, smiling over at Liquid.

Liquid nodded a bit and said, "Because she can. And God bless her for it."

I chuckled a bit before my smile fell and I asked, "So wait, what did we even get injected with again?"

"It's called Codec. The nanomachines produce sound in your ear by stimulating the small bones directly. So, there's no sound for anyone else to hear. Once everyone's been set up with Codec, FOXHOUND's comms will be totally secure~!" an unfamiliarly perky voice chirped. Liquid and I raised an eyebrow in tandem and turned to the source of the voice. In the doorway to the infirmary stood Campbell and a nineteen-year-old Chinese girl. For some odd reason, the first conclusion I came to about this girl was that she was absurdly _cute_.

"Liquid, Wolf, this is Mei Ling, our new communications intern," Campbell explained while Mei Ling waved with a bright smile. "She was the one who created Codec; I told you she'd be here for the summer."

"Dear sweet non-existent Lord," Mantis groaned. I had no idea Mantis was even in the room before now. Liquid discreetly rolled his eyes, and I shot them both a glare.

"It's nice to meet you, Mei Ling," I remarked, grinning her way. If they weren't going to be polite to her, then I would be for them.

I then turned to Naomi and asked, "So wait, has everyone gotten this thing yet?"

Naomi looked away uneasily and replied, "Well, most everyone I guess."

"What do you mean?" I questioned further, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, they're discussing that outside," Naomi replied, pointing towards the other entrance. I furrowed my eyebrows and walked over there to immediately behold what Naomi was talking about.

"Come _on_, Raven!" Ocelot snapped, losing his patience with the shaman in question for some reason or another.

"The answer is still no," Raven shot back, narrowing his eyes in calm defiance at the Russian.

"He's got a point, y'know. It is kinda creepy," Octopus remarked, halfway through a cigarette.

Ocelot glared at Octopus before he growled, "_You're _creepy. Shut the hell up if you aren't going to be useful."

"I have categorically refused to accept nanomachines into the body that the earth has given me," Raven explained, "The army has always respected that decision."

"Look, Codec eventually runs out of power and breaks down. It's not like it's a permanent alteration," Ocelot argued. "If you don't believe me you can ask the inventor. She's right over there." He pointed over to the other entrance, where Mei Ling and Liquid had just started watching from.

"Your word may be worthless, Ocelot, but a nineteen-year-old girl from MIT isn't going to be that much more convincing," Raven remarked, raising an eyebrow. Ocelot groaned and rolled his eyes while I saw Mei Ling bristle a little bit at that comment.

"You aren't going to take that lying down, are you?" Liquid wondered with a smirk, looking over at Mei Ling. I glared at him; he was _not _going to push her into something dangerous! Mei Ling took a breath before walking over to Raven, biting her lip and wringing her hands behind her back.

"Uhr, Mister Raven, sir?" Mei Ling asked, grabbing Raven's attention. Liquid walked from the other entrance over to where I was to stand next to me.

"This ought to be good," Liquid remarked.

"Just remember, you pushed her into this and it's YOUR fault if anything happens to her," I replied, giving Liquid a pointed glare. Liquid shrugged, and we continued to watch.

"What is it child?" Raven asked.

"Well, I heard that you didn't want the nanomachines, and I was sort of wondering why. I mean, everyone else is really excited about them, and…" Mei Ling cut herself off by resuming chewing nervously on her lower lip. It was very obvious that Raven intimidated her, and why wouldn't she be? He could break her in half with one hand!

"If I say religious reasons, will you stop making that face?" Raven asked.

Mei Ling raised an eyebrow, her face turning to a puzzled one, and wondered, "What do you mean 'religious reasons'?"

"I mean my spirituality is centered around nature. The idea of having machines in my body is abhorrent to me," Raven explained. "Simple as that."

Mei Ling furrowed her eyebrows and countered, "But you rely on man-made technology all the time. That M61 you haul around didn't grow on a tree. Besides, isn't it a bit arrogant to think that the things humans do are special and not a part of nature?"

"_It's impossible for anything in nature to do anything unnatural_," Mei Ling quoted with a cheerful smile.

"You really think you can out-wisdom _me_?" Raven wondered skeptically before he quoted back, "_We cannot command nature except by obeying her_."

"_Without oars, you cannot cross in a boat_," Mei Ling countered.

"Wait, what did that one mean-" Liquid began before Raven cut him off.

"_Evil enters like a needle and spreads like an oak tree_," Raven argued back.

"Now wait what did-" I started before Mei Ling cut me off.

"_If the lion's skill will not do, we must sew on that of the fox,_" Mei Ling responded, her smirk turning sly.

"_He who rides the tiger can never dismount_," Raven shot back.

"Wait- huh?" Liquid wondered, his mind boggled.

"_The wise adapt themselves to circumstances, as water moulds itself to the pitcher_," Mei Ling replied.

"_A beggar can beg for certain things, but he cannot beg for an ostrich's egg_," Raven countered, smirking himself.

Mei Ling's smirk fell and she snapped, "Okay, you made that last one up."

"It's Ghanaian. I think I win this little battle of wits," Raven replied. "Keep your nanomachines." Mei Ling pouted, but said nothing more. Hey, she knew when she was beat.

"… Okay, what just happened? I'm still confused by those proverbs," Liquid asked. I just nodded. Several hours later, Campbell called Ocelot and me into the briefing room. Ocelot and I glared at each other for a little while in there before Campbell got in there.

"Why are we in here?" I asked, raising an eyebrow and crossing my arms over my chest.

"And why is _she _in here?" Ocelot wondered, spitting out the word 'she' like it was poisonous.

Campbell sighed and muttered, "Might as well skip the actual briefing and just tell them that part that'll piss them off…" I raised an eyebrow in suspicion.

"… The two of you will be going on a mission to Russia together-"

"What?" the two of us shouted in tandem. I wasn't sure how pissed Ocelot was with this situation, but I sure as hell knew I was _pissed_! I would've preferred to rip my own eyes out than be on a mission alone with Ocelot! And I'm a sniper, those things are valuable dammit!

"It's not open for debate," Campbell said firmly.

"This is ridiculous. Whatever this is, I don't need backup for it," I snapped.

"And I don't _give _backup," Ocelot growled, narrowing his eyes at Campbell threateningly.

"You're not going as backup. You're going because you have connections in the Russian mob. You get the target into the open, Wolf takes him out. Easy as that," Campbell shot back. "Get packing, you'll have to brief yourselves on the way there." Ocelot and I glared daggers at Campbell, both of us planning ways to kill him and make a bullet to the head look like natural causes. Through a loophole or five, I was able to bring Berthold along with me so that things would be just a little more bearable. After a farewell rant with Naomi and Liquid over how this mission was going to suck a _lot_, Ocelot and I were midway over the Atlantic glaring at each other while Berthold was lying on my feet.

Halfway through the flight, Ocelot sighed, "We might as well figure out what the hell we're supposed to do."

"Fine by me," I replied in a huff as Berthold sat up, putting his head on my lap as a request for attention. I scratched him absently behind the ears. Ocelot rifled through the relatively small folder that Campbell gave us, pulling out a few pages of text and a picture of a man that I could _tell _was Russian without even needing to think of what we were dealing with in this mission. He was just that Russian.

"So who is this guy?" I asked, leaning over to get a better look at the picture.

"Gregor Nevolin, one of the mafia bigwigs we met in Outer Heaven way back when," Ocelot replied. "Seems he's violated our little agreement and made arrangements to supply a certain radical Islamic movement with nuclear materials."

"And rubbing him out will stop this from happening?" I questioned further, a bit incredulous.

"Might be too late to stop this one, but the CIA is going to try to intercept the goods in transit," Ocelot answered. "It will stop this from happening _again, _at any rate. Maybe make the others think twice before they try the same thing."

"Nevolin must've known this would piss off the Americans," I remarked. "He's holed up somewhere?"

"That would be why I got volunteered. I know the right people to flush him out," Ocelot replied. "Considering which, they should've just had me go in and whack him. I'm only the deadliest man in the whole damn world. Sniping isn't the only way to assassinate someone!"

"But your position is very useful to them. You can easily manipulate the Russians," I countered, "They wouldn't blow all that just to save a bit of time taking out one measly mafia lieutenant." Ocelot's eyebrows went up, and so did one corner of my mouth. Berthold also picked his head up, cocking his head to the side at the change in our demeanor from murderous to… something.

"You're right. Say, I didn't know you paid any attention to this spy game stuff," Ocelot remarked.

"I'm far smarter than I look," I replied, my smirk widening a bit.

"Congratulations Wolf, when I finally snap and murder everyone, you'll go last," Ocelot commented with a grin. I wasn't exactly sure how to process that, so I just rolled my eyes and returned to scratching Berthold behind the ears. The rest of the flight passed in silence, neither Ocelot nor I trying to start up another conversation. In truth I was actually a little weirded out that we had actually seen eye to eye on something, even more so that Ocelot had given me the closest thing to a compliment I've ever seen him give.

When we arrived in Russia, Ocelot and I almost immediately split up, Ocelot leaving to speak with some contact or another while Berthold and I left to scout out the location for the hit tomorrow. The scouting itself lasted something like three minutes, since I was practiced at this sort of thing (and it was in the same motel we were briefly setting up shop in). The rest of the time I just talked to Berthold.

"I expected Russia to be cold year-round, but I guess I was wrong," I muttered to Berthold. Indeed, it was quite hot, just like back at base and back in Iraq. And it was around the middle of the night!

"Normally I like it this hot. However, heat without sand isn't something I find very preferable," I remarked. Berthold just paused for a second or two in scratching himself behind the ear to listen to my point. I chuckled a bit; for how human he acted, he did have a few animal-like tendencies still in him. Right then, Ocelot opened the door, walking into the room with a rather agitated stride.

"What's up?" I asked, arching an eyebrow at him.

"I could feel someone tailing me when I met with my last contact," Ocelot replied.

"Really? Did you get a look at his face?" I asked, furrowing my eyebrows.

"Just barely. It was familiar, but I don't know where I saw him before," Ocelot answered, spinning his revolver around as per nervous habit.

"So this could be one of Nevolin's goons," I surmised, "If he knows what's going on-"

"No. I'm sure it wasn't a mob guy," Ocelot said, sounding quite sure of that fact. "Damn, where do I know him from…"

"Still, we can't have any surprises when the time comes," I declared. "Berthold?" Berthold stopped wolf-glaring at Ocelot and walked up to me, tail wagging.

"Do me a favor," I began. "Go find the man trailing Ocelot. Put him out of the way permanently." Berthold's tail sagged for a bit before it began wagging again and he scampered out the door.

"I can take care of that shmoe myself," Ocelot remarked, narrowing his eyes.

"He needs the exercise," I countered, "And you've got other places to be. So, we're all set for tomorrow?"

Ocelot looked at his watch and responded, "I'm meeting my contact again in… two hours. If he gives me good news, we're on. Be ready to get in position when that happens."

I nodded before mentioning, "So… Looks like we've got a few hours to kill."

"Yeah… Wanna go torture some homeless people?" Ocelot asked with a grin. My eyes widened; do what now?

"What?"

"Y'know, hobos. Wanna torture 'em?"

"… I think I'll pass."

"Alright, your loss. Can't find better hobos anywhere else," Ocelot called over his shoulder as he left the room. A few seconds after he left, I groaned; sure, I didn't have Ocelot around but I also didn't have Berthold around, meaning I was all on my own in a small room with nothing to do except watch the three Russian TV channels on the small television. And I had absolutely no knowledge of Russian, so I was stuck just sitting around depleting my small stock of Diazepam and Pentazemin that I had brought.

I ended up entertaining myself via making up my own translations for the Russian soap opera I was watching. I can't tell you the specifics of the tale I had spun out of boredom, but I can tell you that it had to do with international espionage, racism, onions, and who was supposed to make the donuts. Like I said, I was very bored. After about two more hours of this, Ocelot came back. Thankfully, he didn't ask questions about my activity and just gave me a rather confused look before shaking it off.

"Alright, it's time. Let's move," Ocelot declared, holstering his revolver after spinning it a bit.

"Right," I muttered, standing up and slinging the fully loaded PSG-1 over my shoulders.

Ocelot narrowed his eyes at me before asking, "The hell's wrong with you? You've been a 'mood' this entire time. Is this going to be a problem for you?"

"I haven't been in a _mood _Ocelot," I snapped, "And I'm fine. There's nothing to worry about."

"Whatever. Just get in position and don't screw this up," Ocelot demanded, turning to leave, "Oh yeah, and if you manage to work up a crush on the old bastard in the five minutes you have to shoot him I'll hate you even more than I already do." I let out a low growl, any less than hostile feelings concerning the old bastard stemming from his sort-of compliment several hours ago flickering out of existence like a candle in a hurricane. It was now a fact of life that I hated Ocelot.

Pushing that to the side, I quickly got into position as Ocelot did. For some reason- maybe it was the fact I was working with Ocelot, or that I had a nagging concern for Berthold in the back of my mind- time didn't blend from one second to another, and I didn't get lost waiting for the right moment. As I saw Ocelot check his watch several minutes later, I was painfully aware of that condition.

With some slight fumbling I called Ocelot on the Codec and remarked, "They're late. Do you trust this contact?"

Ocelot frowned on both his Codec image and his actual face and replied, "We don't use the 'T' word in the Ocelot household."

I rolled my eyes and questioned further, "Fine, is this contact _reliable_?"

"Reliable enough to wait another five minutes," Ocelot answered. I let out a small sigh, but kept my sights trained down at Ocelot. Right then, a black car pulled up. I didn't need Ocelot to tell me that Nevolin was here. Before Nevolin himself got out of the car, two of his goons got out first.

"Only two? I thought he'd have a little more security than that," I muttered to myself. They briefly searched Ocelot, which was rather pointless since Ocelot knew exactly how to hide his beloved revolver so that they would simply gloss over it, and right after they gave the 'all clear', Nevolin came out into the open, looking a little agitated. Immediately I locked my crosshairs on the middle of his forehead. Ocelot and Nevolin exchanged a few words I couldn't make out (well, it WAS in Russian), but as they did I realized that the shot wasn't quite right.

"The shot isn't quite right. Could you get them to line up a little better?" I asked over Codec. Ocelot's Codec image nodded a bit, and Ocelot said something more to Nevolin. One of his goons moved right in the way of the shot; I'd be able to shoot through him, but still…

"Much better, thank you," I muttered. Suddenly, the goon's face changed to one of urgency. He pulled out his pistol and began moving Ocelot's way.

"What the hell-?" I began, before I realized what the goon was reacting to. My eyes widened; there was a laser light right on Ocelot's heart. There was another sniper here! I was about to get moving, but right as I was the light jerked over at an awkward angle and I heard the shot go off. The bullet went through a ways below his heart, immediately drawing blood and widening Ocelot's eyes. I let out a gasp, haphazardly shot Nevolin and his goons (hell, this mission was going to get accomplished Ocelot or no Ocelot), then jumped out the open window, skidding down the wall and running over to Ocelot.

I knelt by his side with a look of panic; Ocelot looked to be in shock, but he was still alive thanks to the other sniper missing. Immediately I called the first Codec frequency I could think of, Liquid's.

"Liquid!" I exclaimed in a panic.

"Wolf? What is it, what happened?" Liquid asked.

"Ocelot's been shot, there was an enemy sniper," I explained.

"What? Alright, I'll alert Campbell, see what he can do about this," Liquid replied, keeping a level head, "You find that enemy sniper."

"Way ahead of you," I responded before hanging up the Codec call, quickly analyzing the trajectory of the shot, and running back to the building. It came from the exact same building, and with enough luck I was able to find the exact room. How? Because I heard the sounds of a man being attacked by a wolf from behind one of the doors. I burst through right as Berthold was ripping out a portion of the man's right arm (said arm holding a PSG-1). He let out a cry and shook Berthold off, but Berthold didn't stay off for long. He growled deep in his chest and let out a loud bark before leaping on the man, chomping on his throat and ripping out a large portion of it. Berthold let out a triumphant howl and started nibbling on the dead man's arm some more.

"Good boy Bertie~!" I chirped, smiling cheerfully. His tail wagged more as he continued to chow down on the enemy sniper. After a series of events far too detailed to go into right now, Bertie and I took Ocelot and the body of the enemy sniper back to FOXHOUND.

"Wolf, what the hell happened back there? Liquid didn't give me any details," Campbell asked me as we all milled about Ocelot's not-entirely-conscious body in the infirmary.

"There was an enemy sniper. Berthold tracked him down," I explained. "I was just able to take out Nevolin, but the other sniper had spooked him pretty bad."

"Would this be the body you dragged back? Who was he?" Campbell questioned further. All I could do was shrug and look over at Liquid. The blonde Snake had remarked that something seemed familiar about the enemy sniper, and he'd been staring at the body for a little while now. Right then, he perked up and snapped his fingers in realization.

"I've got it! I know who he is!" Liquid exclaimed. "This was one of Jensen's men, from Tknsydska." My eyebrows shot up at that point.

"Really? Tknsydska? Looks like something came of that mission after all…" I remarked. I could see Mantis shifting uncomfortably at that.

"Alright, it's just a flesh wound. He lost some blood, but otherwise he's in good shape. Physically, anyway," Naomi reported.

I furrowed my eyebrows and noted, "But he's in a coma."

"There's plenty wrong with Ocelot mentally," Mantis chimed in, "We've always known that."

"Thank you, Mantis, for always being helpful," Campbell replied sardonically.

"I'm afraid that Mantis is right. Ocelot seems to be in shock," Naomi continued.

I furrowed my eyebrows more before wondering, "Really? Strange. I always thought he was tougher than that. One bullet and he passes out?"

"Er, I don't mean physical shock. I mean _surprise_," Naomi clarified.

"I don't follow," Campbell remarked.

"Oh come on, this is Ocelot. It's obvious what happened," Mantis sighed, rolling his eyes behind his gas mask.

"What, then?" Mei Ling questioned further.

Mantis turned to Mei Ling and answered, "Look, Ocelot is the kind of man who _truly believes _that if God himself were to come down from the heavens, point a shotgun at his head and pull the trigger, _God would miss_."

Naomi shuffled closer to me with a sly smirk and asked in a hushed tone, "Just between us, it was really you who shot him, right?"

I narrowed my eyes at Naomi and snapped, "That's not funny."

"Sorry, sorry. Just making a joke," Naomi apologized. I cracked a lopsided smile; I could never stay mad at her for long.

"So, can you bring Ocelot back? Do that mental retrieval thing you did for me?" Liquid asked, walking up and stopping next to me. There was much less space between us than normal, I noticed.

"Absolutely. Mei Ling here just has to shut off his anti-telepath nanotech," Mantis replied, sounding oddly cheery about it.

Mei Ling frowned and insisted, "The president won't authorize it, no way."

Mantis turned to her again and countered, "Ocelot's his favorite pet. He'll allow it."

"Ocelot's condition isn't as bad as Liquid's was. He'll be fine without the mental retrieval," Mei Ling argued back. She was right; why was Mantis so intent on a mental retrieval?

Campbell walked up- I had no idea he had walked away- and said, "Alright, I just got off the phone with the president."

"He said no, right?" Mei Ling asked, looking a little hopeful.

"He's going to allow Mantis to perform the retrieval on one condition," Campbell replied. Mei Ling's shoulders sank at that news.

"Which is?" Mantis asked.

"He wants us _all _to go with you, Naomi included," Octopus answered. I looked over my shoulder to see that Raven and Octopus were not too far behind Liquid and I. Naomi's eyes widened a bit, not having expected to be in on this little expedition. Neither had I, to be fair.

"He doesn't trust me. Thinks I'd make me some Ocelot stew if left unchecked," Mantis scoffed, "Why he thinks any of you could stop me, or would even _want_ to, is beyond me."

"Well I for one feel that Ocelot is a valuable member of the team and getting rid of him would be a bad idea," Liquid commented. We all just stared at him incredulously. Even I knew he wasn't telling the whole truth. Well, then again, out of all of us I knew him best.

"… Of course, I'm all for planting lifelong desires to cross-dress, that sort of thing," Liquid added with a grin.

"Good enough. Let's bounce," Mantis declared with a shrug. After about fifteen minutes of preparation, we were all gathered around Ocelot for the second time. Naomi gulped a bit, obviously nervous. I gave her a reassuring smile, and she returned it with a sheepish one. In truth I was just as nervous as she was. Liquid was next to me yet again (and quite close, as well), he could see through my smile. I could tell this when I felt him gently grab my hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze. I fought down a blush.

"Everything set for the dive?" Mantis asked.

"He's ready when you are," Naomi replied, "And so are we."

"I turned off his nanotech, hope you're _happy_," Mei Ling noted with a frown. Mantis nodded, and his 'eyes' began to glow a bright green. Without warning, my entire vision faded into bright green, and suddenly all I could feel was violent spiraling, a downward pull, and Liquid's grip on my hand…


	16. Chapter 16: Debriefing

_LAST TIME, everybody got Codec'd, Mei Ling got out-wisdomed by Raven, Wolf and Ocelot were forced to go to Russia together (while Wolf snuck Berthold along), Ocelot got BOOM TORSO-SHOT, and everyone was forced inside our dear Ocelot's brain. NOW, FOR THE THRILLING CONTINUATION. This is going to be LONG, so get yourself some coffee or something. I own nothing, so yeah. Let's go._

_**-Debriefing-**_

I couldn't feel a thing. Not the spiraling, the downward pull, or Liquid's grip. The green all around me had been replaced with plain white. I was hardly self-aware; my body felt a million miles away and my mind felt like it was fragmenting into billions of little pieces, slowly but surely. I was frightened, panicked, and somewhere in there resigned to my fate. This foreign sensation was taking away everything about me, starting from the back of my mind and moving forwards.

_Calm down, calm down. Let's try and put things back together. _Who… who was that? It sounded like a woman, one moving into middle age that had seen far more than her fair share of hardships. She sounded strong, but somewhere behind it all I could feel something broken back there.

"Who are you?"

_That's not what's important here. Now, what's your name? _I struggled with her question for a bit, but soon I found the answer.

"Ferishteh Rekani. My codename is Sniper Wolf." She let out a small chuckle, a pleased and amused one. It sounded like she didn't laugh very often, and for that reason I wanted to hear her laugh again.

_Very good. That's better than Liquid did when I asked him the first time. How old are you? _That question gave me more trouble.

"… I was born on August 13th, 1977. I'm eleven- no… eighteen- no… twenty-five years old."

_Very good, very good. _She continued to ask me questions, questions I already knew the answers to but had to find. Slowly she and I rebuilt my mind, brought me closer and closer to my body and calmed me down all at once.

_Alright, last question. Who is the most important person in your life? _

"Liquid Snake." That answer came out of my mouth the quickest. Another precious laugh from the woman, and I could feel again. My body was right here, and my mind was mine. Before the white disappeared to show me my true surroundings, I saw the woman for a brief second. She was blonde, like me, with her hair tied back into a ponytail. She wore a black poncho over something I couldn't quite describe in my current state of mind, and her bright blue eyes were wise and tired. A name- at least, I thought it was a name- came into my mind.

"The Joy…" I whispered. My eyes then opened. I had a slight headache, but that wasn't the main problem here. In about five seconds I had deduced that I was riding on Liquid's back piggyback style. Despite my best efforts, I turned bright red.

"Finally up, eh?" Octopus asked, grinning at me as he walked beside Liquid.

"Why is Liquid carrying me?" I wondered, pressing my face into Liquid's back to hide my blush.

"Well, we had to get moving, and Mantis wouldn't wait for you and Naomi. So, me and Raven decided to carry you two," Liquid replied, smiling over his shoulder at me. My blush darkened, and I glanced over at Raven who was walking on our right. Naomi was slung over his shoulder like a bag of potatoes, and I could hear her snoring lightly. I stifled a laugh.

"Uh, thanks," I mumbled. "I'm going to get down now…" Liquid slowed down to let me slide off his back, and I wobbled a bit when I got my feet on the ground. Liquid placed an arm around my waist to steady me (well, I certainly _hope _that was his only motive for doing so), which did not help my blush one bit.

"Ugh, is it always trippy to go into someone's mind, Mantis?" I asked. Mantis was at the head of the group, leading the way, so he had to look over his shoulder to answer my question.

"Yes, always. When someone without mental defense mechanisms- i.e. a non psychic- enters another person's mind, the mind being entered tries to absorb the foreign entity," Mantis replied. "You all had some help, so you weren't absorbed." I nodded in recognition, then looked around at our surroundings. All I could see were two walls on either side of us that didn't go all the way up and pitch-black ceiling.

"So, _this _is Ocelot's mind?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"It's a maze. And a _very _complicated one, at that," Liquid replied with a bit of a frown.

"Nearly every single mind is a freaking _metaphor_, I swear," Mantis snapped. I could tell that one of his eyes was twitching. "And this one is the worst."

"Now now, Liquid's mind was pretty bad too," Raven commented. Liquid shot him a glare, but didn't say a word. We kept wandering around for hours in subjective time, long enough for me to get my balance back and for Liquid to get bored enough to resort to poking Octopus to pass the time.

"Will you _stop _that?" Octopus snapped after Liquid had poked him forty-five thousand, eight hundred fifty-four times, slapping his hand away.

"I'm _bored! _We've seen nothing but maze for hours and hours!" Liquid shot back with a slight glare. .

"I'm starting to see a pattern in the layout. It may look confusing, but there is a system," Mantis declared.

I raised an eyebrow and questioned, "How can you tell? There aren't any landmarks, just the same walls over and over again."

"Of course _you _can't see it. You'd have to have a brain like mine to make any sense of this," Mantis replied. Right then, we came across a rectangular spot of dark grey among the endless brown. It was a door, and there were a few more of them near it.

"See? Doors. This is exactly what we've been looking for," Mantis proclaimed. We all gave Mantis a strange look; the closest door to us was labeled 'Porn' in large block letters.

"Don't look at me like that," Mantis snapped, narrowing his eyes at us as he walked up to the door. "This is Ocelot we're talking here, of _course _all the signs are going to be wrong." Mantis then pushed the door open just enough for him to peek his head inside…

"Oh Jesus! Oh Jesus _God_!" Mantis exclaimed, whipping his head back out of the room and slamming the door as quickly as was humanly possible.

"Unless that's what he _wants _you to think," Raven commented.

"I would kill him later, but I need to kill _myself NOW_," Mantis hissed. I walked over to another door, and raised my eyebrows at the interesting label. In the same font as the 'Porn' door the words 'Operation Snake Eater' were written on this door.

"Hey, check this one out," I called, looking over at the others. Everyone walked over to me, all of the others examining the door for themselves.

"Sweet," Octopus remarked.

"Ah, good! _This _is the one we want," Mantis proclaimed.

Liquid arched a blonde eyebrow and asked, "Are you sure this isn't more porn?"

"Shut _up _Liquid," Mantis growled. Right then Naomi began to stir, letting out a small groan as she did. I smiled at her when she noticed me.

"Wha? Where… Huh?" Naomi stammered.

"You missed it," Raven 'replied'. Naomi hesitantly made her way off Raven's shoulder, but as soon as she was on the ground Naomi kept Raven's left arm in a vice grip. I tried not to laugh again. Mantis cleared his throat, bringing our attention back to the situation at hand, and without further ado we all walked through the door. In a flash of bright light, we were all standing on a roof of a building in an abandoned factory in the middle of what looked like a jungle. In the open area beneath us several masked soldiers surrounded two men; one of the men was bald with a monocle and an amusing mustache, while the other… My eyes widened. He looked almost exactly like Solid Snake!

"Uh… Where are we _now_?" Naomi asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Tselinoyarsk, circa 1964. Or Ocelot's memory of it, at any rate," Mantis explained. My eyebrows furrowed; I couldn't possibly be staring at Solid Snake then.

"Is that Saladin?" I asked, pointing at the Solid Snake clone.

"Damn, you're right. It _is _Big Boss," Octopus remarked in agreement.

"Don't you get all humpy on us now," Mantis snapped glaring at me. I glared at him, resisting the urge to emulate Berthold and growl at him.

"Now, if this scene is from Ocelot's memory…" Liquid cut in, glaring at the younger image of his father.

"Yeah, where's Ocelot?" Octopus finished for him.

Suddenly our attention was brought back to the memory by the voice of a young man remarking, "So… _this _is the legendary Boss." A young man strolled into view; he couldn't have been younger than eighteen. His pale hair was hidden underneath a red beret-style hat, and his striking blue eyes were familiar… I found myself thinking back to that woman my mind had dubbed The Joy. The one standout thing in his outfit were the spurs on the back of his boots.

"The Ocelot commander!" one of the masked soldiers exclaimed, his eyes widening in shock.

"That's _Major _Ocelot to you," the young man snapped, narrowing his eyes at the goon, "And don't you forget it." Ah, so Ocelot had finally arrived on the scene.

"Oh my God, he's like twelve years old!" Liquid laughed, nearly face-palming.

"I'd say about eighteen," I corrected.

"And already a major? How is that possible?" Raven wondered.

"Good question. Let's find out," Mantis declared with a hidden smirk.

"This a mental retrieval mission," Raven snapped, glaring at Mantis.

"Oh lighten up," Mantis scoffed. "This is our chance to get as much dirt on Ocelot as we can." I turned back to the scene below; the monocled man had taken cover, Saladin was still in his CQC stance (calm and collected as ever), and Ocelot had his arms folded behind his head; every single one of the goons had fallen, and I had a feeling Ocelot had been responsible for it.

"I can't say it feels good to kill a comrade, even if it is for the GRU," Ocelot remarked before turning to Saladin, He unfolded his arms from behind his head and did that odd hand gesture I'd seen him do a couple of times. For some odd reason, Saladin started to… glow and sparkle at the same time.

"Why's he all shiny?" Naomi asked.

"We're seeing this through the filter of Ocelot's memory. And Big Boss made quite the impression on young Ocelot," Mantis replied.

"Wait. You don't mean…" Liquid trailed off with a look of dread on his face, and Mantis simply shrugged. Liquid made a disgusted face before turning in my direction.

"Jesus _Christ_, is there anyone in the bloody unit who hasn't at one point or another had a crush on my father?" Liquid shouted, his left eye twitching. All I could do was smile sheepishly and turn my attention back to the scene below us, where Ocelot seemed to be pondering something.

"… You're not The Boss, are you?" Ocelot asked, narrowing his eyes at Saladin. Saladin looked to the monocled man and shrugged, while Ocelot looked away with a small 'Hmm'.

Then, with very little warning, Ocelot let out a very loud, "_Mroooooowr!_" We all just stared at the scene before us as the GRU operatives flooded in… And we all burst out laughing. None of us were immune, even Raven was laughing hysterically. I had to lean on Liquid to keep my balance. When we finally recovered, Saladin had taken down the entire Ocelot Unit sans Ocelot.

"I don't think you're cut out for an automatic in the first place," Saladin remarked as Ocelot gripped his head with a groan, "You tend to twist your elbow to absorb the recoil. That's more of a revolver technique."

Ocelot glared daggers at Saladin before retrieving a knife from seemingly nowhere and charged at him with a cry of, "Filthy American _dog_!" Without even a thought Saladin grabbed Ocelot's outstretched arm, kneed him in the gut, and threw him to the ground.

"Whoa-ho-_ho_!" Octopus exclaimed with a grin.

"Nice takedown," Raven added with a smirk. Suddenly everything around us faded to black. I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion, what was this all about?

"What gives?" Octopus demanded, glaring at Mantis.

"Ocelot blacked out. He can't remember what he didn't see," Mantis replied.

"We'll have to go on to his next memory," Raven added.

"That sucks. I wanted to see what Big Boss did next," Naomi griped.

"Yeah, me too," I remarked.

"Yes, but unfortunately we can only see through Ocelot's eyes," Mantis snapped, narrowing his eyes at us.

"I think I can help with that." We all turned around to find whoever had said that; my eyes widened at what we discovered, while Liquid's eyes narrowed. Standing there with a smirk on his face was the Saladin we all knew from our time period.

"Ach, not this again," Octopus groaned. Liquid's scowl deepened and he cracked his knuckles, preparing himself for a fight. I narrowed my eyes at Saladin, but I placed a firm grip on Liquid's shoulder as something of a warning not for him to get reckless here.

"You looking to start some more shit, dead man?" Mantis snapped.

Saladin rolled his eyes and shot back, "Don't get your schwartz twisted. I'm not here to fight." This remark didn't assuage Liquid's hostility, and my grip didn't loosen one bit.

"Could I ask _how _you're here?" Raven asked, stepping forward so that he and Big Boss could properly speak. "I thought only Liquid could see you when you were a spirit."

"Normally, yes. But right now you're all in a sort of shared subconscious thing… Look, if you want the technical answer, ask The Sorrow. Point is, I can connect with all of you this way," Saladin explained. Without warning, a rectangular section of the darkness disappeared to reveal a landscape of some sorts. The sudden bright light hurt my eyes, and I squinted to remedy my discomfort.

"And I can open up some of my memories as well," Saladin added with a smirk.

"You mean we can see the mission from your perspective too?" Naomi asked with an excited grin.

"That's right," Saladin answered, "Although, if you just saw me fighting Ocelot for the first time… You should skip the next five or ten minutes."

"How come?" Mantis asked. Instead of answering in words, Big Boss lead us all through the opening into his memories; we all found ourselves still in Tselinoyarsk, but this time we were on a rope bridge between two very tall cliffs. I didn't look at that for too long, since my attention was drawn to the center of the bridge. My eyes widened as The Joy (dressed differently) broke young Saladin's arm, punched him in the stomach, and threw him off the bridge. All I could do was stare in awe; now _that_, was a _beating_.

"Holy holies!" Octopus exclaimed, eyes wide as he leaned over the bridge to watch young Saladin fall.

"Yeah," Liquid breathed, wincing as his father hit the ground below.

"I'll tell you right now: you haven't had a beating 'til you've met The Boss," Saladin commented with his own wince. Liquid's facial expression did a complete one-eighty, his eyes narrowing to complete a ferocious glare.

"Oh really? Is she where you learned it from? Because my entire life could certainly attest to that," Liquid growled, turning his glare towards his father. Saladin opened his mouth to say something, but he thought better of it. Liquid continued to glare at him. My grip went back to Liquid's shoulder, but it was a little less firm this time.

"… Ahem. I can certainly see why you wouldn't want us to see this," Mantis commented.

"Yeah, but then I started to remember how this week went," Saladin sighed, face-palming, "And about forty-five percent of it consists of me having my ass handed to me by The Boss."

"Why were you fighting? I thought you and The Boss were a team," Naomi asked, furrowing her eyebrows and turning back to Saladin. She finally let go of Raven's arm to cross her arms over her chest.

"The circumstances were a bit complicated," Saladin answered, "She defected to the Soviets."

"Why would she do that?" Raven asked, sounding a tad incredulous.

"That would be the entire point of the story, my friend," Saladin answered.

The scene faded out to a dark grey as Mantis said irately, "Alright _kids_, we need to get on with the mission. So, let's thank Big Boss for sharing and get to what we came here to do."

"I would rather continue with Saladin's memories," I mentioned.

"I'm sure you _would_," Mantis replied, "But we're here to dig through _Ocelot's _memories. And maybe bring him back if we feel like it." My glare intensified.

"You don't need all of them for that," Saladin remarked.

"Well, I suppose I could just go on by myself and leave the rest of you-" Mantis began before Raven cut him off.

"Oh no you don't. We're supposed to be making sure that you don't violate Ocelot's mind any more than what's reasonably funny," Raven snapped, glaring at Mantis as well.

"Oh _fine_. The two of us will follow Ocelot. The rest of you can piss off," Mantis griped.

"Fine," Raven agreed. The two of them walked off into the darkness, talking about something I couldn't hear. Naomi looked rather sad to see Raven going, which elicited a raised eyebrow from me.

"Alright, let's back up a bit here," Saladin said as the scene switched back to where we had first come in. "I came to Tselinoyarsk to help this guy-" Saladin pointed at the monocled man "- escape, a weapons scientist by the name of Sokolov. The Americans and Russians had been fighting over the poor bastard for years. The KGB jumped us, Ocelot and his goons jumped _them_, and I introduced him to CQC."

We 'warped' back to the bridge, only this time Saladin had Sokolov with him and The Boss wasn't beating him up yet, and Saladin continued, "I almost had Sokolov out before The Boss showed up… with some friends." Within the memory, a swarm of hornets seemed to fall from nowhere and start attacking Saladin and Sokolov. Saladin tried to fight the well-organized insects, but when his back was turned they seemed to _grab _Sokolov and lift him up back to where they came from.

"The Cobra unit made off with Sokolov while I was dealing with the hornets," Big Boss stated.

"Where'd they all come from?" Octopus asked.

"We'll get to that later," Big Boss 'answered' before continuing, "To top it all off, The Boss told me she was defecting… to team up with this piece of shit. Volgin." In the memory, a large, imposing Russian man in the garb of a GRU colonel with several squiggly-looking scars on his face came up behind The Boss just as she was telling Saladin of her defection. This had to be Volgin, I could just tell.

"Ooh, he looks like a badass," Octopus commented with a grin.

"Badass? I suppose, if you think having to hurt someone else to get a hard-on is _badass_," Saladin shot back.

"I mean on account of all those awesome scars," Octopus clarified, "Kinda like Harry Potter." Saladin gave him a look that said 'You've got to be kidding me'.

"No, seriously! Harry's got that one lightning bold scar above his eyebrow. Volgin's got like five or six of 'em!" Octopus exclaimed.

"Well, it is funny you mention _lightning_…" Big Boss mused. Within the memory, Volgin's body temporarily flickered with electricity, light blue bolts of it surrounding him.

"Damn!" Naomi exclaimed, eyes wide as she beheld it.

"He said his body carried ten million volts or something," Big Boss added, "I don't know how the bastard didn't just drop dead." We fast-forwarded through The Boss's beating, since we had already seen it.

"Anyways, at least being able to shoot lightning is somewhat useful, which was more than you could say for some of the Cobras," Saladin continued.

"The Cobras! Of course, now I remember," Octopus exclaimed, snapping his fingers in realization. "The Pain! The guy with the bees, right?"

"You know about them already?" Saladin asked with an incredulous tone.

"Ocelot was talking about them when we went to find The Sorrow," Octopus replied with a shrug.

"'The guy with the bees'?" I echoed, raising an eyebrow.

"His special ability was being covered in bees," Octopus elaborated.

"That's a special ability?" I asked, my eyebrow going higher.

"I certainly can't do it," Octopus replied. That point aside, we continued on with the memory. Apparently Volgin used the bombs The Boss gave him on another section of Tsenlinoyarsk, and America had The Boss take the fall for it. Saladin was sent back there a week after it happened with the mission of destroying a nuclear tank known as the Shagohod, rescuing Sokolov again and killing The Boss. Apparently he had to convene with an agent known as ADAM back where he rescued Sokolov the first time around. However, ADAM couldn't make it for one reason or another, so a woman named EVA was sent in his place.

"Ah, EVA," Saladin sighed with a smile as we watched her take her motorcycle helmet off and unzip her shirt (Naomi couldn't understand it, but I could) right after she had taken out an ambush squad. "There was nobody else quite like her out there. I guess she would've been the only one I would've chosen as the surrogate mother of my clones too…" Liquid perked up at that.

"Wait… What?" Liquid asked, raising an eyebrow and turning to his father.

"Ah, right. Liquid, what we just watched can be summed up as 'How I Met Your Mother'," Saladin replied with a grin. Liquid just stared at him for a minute or so before turning that gaze to the memory image of EVA. He slowly smiled at the woman who looked so very much like him.

"… She looks like she would've raised me better than _you _did," Liquid commented.

"I don't doubt that," Saladin sighed. I looked from Liquid to Saladin with a concerned expression; just what had Saladin put him through?

After EVA earned Saladin's trust, she gave him two guns and a disguise he could use. He had to rest at the abandoned factory- since the jungle was dangerous at night- but later on he and EVA were ambushed by Ocelot and his unit once more. Snake defeated the unit, but Ocelot grabbed EVA. EVA overpowered him- much to Liquid's delight- and Ocelot fled the scene. EVA and Saladin split up, and Saladin encountered Ocelot once again at a crevice. They had a relatively short duel, but The Pain's hornets cut it off once more.

With Ocelot escaping, Saladin was given no choice but to jump down the crevice into the cave below. Saladin ventured deep into the cave eventually finding the exit, however, it was blocked by another swarm of hornets. The Pain emerged from seemingly nowhere, and challenged Saladin. Using his hornets to shield himself and to attack Saladin, Saladin eventually found an opening and defeated The Pain. After curing his wounds, Snake left the cave and headed toward a warehouse.

From afar, Snake watched as The Boss, Volgin, Ocelot, Sokolov, a woman named Tatyana, and The End all convened at the warehouse, some bizarre things happening between them all.

"So, who did you find next?" Liquid asked.

"Believe it or not, there are more important things to learn from this episode of my life than how I fought the Cobras," Saladin snapped.

"Uh-huh. So, who did you fight next?" Liquid asked again.

"One track mind," I laughed with a sheepish smile.

"Definitely," Saladin grumbled, walking over to Liquid and grabbing his son by the shoulders. "Would you excuse us for a moment?"

"Uh, sure," Octopus replied with a rather confused look. Liquid barely had time to utter a 'huh' before Saladin took him aside several yards until we were out of earshot. And the first thing Saladin did after that was punch Liquid square in the jaw. Naomi and Octopus winced while I just looked away. Liquid… I watched Liquid and Saladin argue, trying to make out what they were saying and not being very successful in doing so. They seemed to come to some sort of agreement before long, and they walked back to us right as I had turned my attention back to the memory.

"Don't worry. They'll be able to handle it," The Boss said to a displeased looking Volgin.

She turned to the empty space behind The End's wheelchair and declared, "I'm leaving him to you, The Fear." Suddenly, someone fizzled into existence behind the wheelchair, and before I could properly analyze him he had jumped up and away.

"The Fear?" I echoed, turning to Saladin.

"Just some creepy guy with a crossbow and optic camo years before its time," Saladin answered with a small shrug, "_How _creepy was he, you ask? He was double jointed everywhere. I think he could dislocate anything in his body at will." The scene switched to Saladin and The Fear facing off in the jungle.

"Anything?" Liquid echoed right as The Fear stuck out his long, creepy tongue.

"_Anything_," Saladin replied. Naomi and I shuddered in perfect time. We watched his fight with the double-jointed cobra, and since this failed to satisfy Liquid for some reason or another we watching Saladin fighting The End. After that fight, all I could say was that I was fine with taking second place to this man, and it was a shame he hadn't lived a century or two more. However, we skipped over quite a bit and the next thing we saw was Saladin jumping backwards off a waterfall.

"It all began with The Sorrow," Saladin began. "After getting my ass burned off by The Fury, captured and tortured by Volgin, and shot in the eye by Ocelot playing his stupid triple Russian roulette game, I escaped Volgin's fortress through the sewers and took a dive into the river. A big dive."

"I'll say," Liquid agreed, leaning over the edge of the waterfall, "_Christ _that's a long drop!"

"I guess it'd take someone as tough as you to survive that," I remarked.

"Yeah, well…" Saladin trailed off for a second. "When I came to, I'd drifted far upstream. The trees were burning, but then a downpour started." Exactly the phenomenon Saladin described began to take place in the memory.

"I was a bit preoccupied with figuring out how the hell I'd find my way back to the base and get my equipment, so he kind of caught me off guard when he popped out of the water," Saladin continued. "I'd seen him floating around The Boss a few times, but I always thought I was just seeing things."

Within the memory, The Sorrow emerged from the water before the young Saladin, the hood of his poncho on and his back turned. Immediately young Saladin pulled a gun on the ghostly Cobra.

"Are you one of the Cobras?" he demanded.

"Sad… So sad…" The Sorrow mused. "A host of sorrows… and you are one of them." The Sorrow pulled his hood back right then and turned to Saladin.

"I am The Sorrow. Like you, I too am filled with sadness," The Sorrow continued, "Ours is a world of sadness. Battle brings death, death brings sorrow. The living may not hear them, their voices may fall upon deaf ears. But, make no mistake. The dead… _Are. Not. Silent._" The Sorrow began to levitate above the stream.

"Now you will know the sorrow of those whose lives you have ended," The Sorrow finished as his bloody tear streamed down his cheek and the lens shattered.

"Just as he promised, the ghost of everyone I'd ever killed appeared as I walked up the river," Saladin continued as we watched him fight through a horde of ghosts, "They weren't happy, to say the least. It wasn't until I reached the end of the river that I started to realize what was happening." We were treated to a view through Saladin's eyes of a skeleton in the same garb as The Sorrow floating at the bottom of the river.

"He was already dead," Naomi stated.

"He had been for years," Saladin added, "And for a moment, so was I." We switched to an image of Saladin regaining consciousness in the water.

"As I regained consciousness, I saw one more thing. I didn't understand what it meant at first…" Saladin trailed off as we switched to a blurry image. I could just make out some cliffs, a bridge, The Boss and The Sorrow. My eyes widened; The Boss was pointing a gun at The Sorrow! But her hands were shaking…

"Boss, you have to shoot me," The Sorrow said in a calm, almost soothing tone of voice.

"… I can't," The Boss choked out.

"Shoot me! You want to finish your mission, don't you?" The Sorrow asked. The Boss was silent, but she didn't have to speak for me to know what she was feeling.

"Then… You'll have to shoot me," The Sorrow continued. The Boss made a strangled noise, a held-back sob.

"The spirit of the warrior will always be with you," The Sorrow murmured. "Don't be sad. We'll meet again, someday…" The Boss pulled the trigger, but she closed her eyes as she did; that, combined with her shaking hands, sent the bullet straight into The Sorrow's right eye. He fell from the bridge, much like Saladin had.

"The _Boss _killed him?" Liquid wondered, eyes wide. I watched the blurry image of The Boss fall to her knees in despair; so, this is why her laughs seemed so precious.

"Did you know she used to be called 'The Joy'?" Big Boss asked.

"Why? Because she was always happy in battle?" Octopus guessed.

"Because the only thing more reliable than symmetry is irony," Naomi answered in a faraway tone.

"Exactly," Big Boss said.

"But- why would The Boss be fighting The Sorrow? They were allies, weren't they?" Liquid asked, eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"Are you starting to see it? The absurdity of it all?" Saladin asked. For the first time, I could see the weariness in his one sky blue eye.

"The Boss was American, and The Sorrow was Russian," Saladin began to explain, "The US and the Soviet Union were allies during WWII, and they formed the Cobras. But _after _the war, they were enemies. And that was because of The Philosophers."

"Hey, I hate Sartre as much as anybody-" Octopus didn't get far, because both Naomi and I smacked him on the back of the head to shut him up. Right then, the scene changed to The Boss speaking to Saladin in a field of white flowers.

"The Philosophers were a secret society of magnates from America, China, and the USSR. They pooled their resources to finance the war against the Axis Powers. The Boss explained this all to me. The moment the war ended, however, the three countries began squabbling over the massive funds they had amassed- the Philosophers' Legacy. As the Allies became enemies, the Cobras were also dismantled and called back to their own countries. And the next time The Boss and The Sorrow saw each other… they too were enemies." I felt a lump forming in my throat, and Naomi was sniffling already as we watched Saladin and The Boss fight.

"The Sorrow was the most important person in her life. And she had no choice to kill him because of the Philosophers' whims," Saladin continued as the scene switched to show his defeat of his mentor. "she was too strong to show just how deep that kind of pain runs… But I know how it tears you apart. Because it happened to me as well." With tears in his eye, the image of young Saladin pointed his pistol at The Boss and pulled the trigger. Naomi choked back a sob and I buried my face in Liquid's shoulder. I just couldn't watch.

As the flowers turned red, Saladin went on, "Because of The Philosophers' plotting, I had to kill someone close to me, just as The Boss did."

"But… Didn't The Boss defect? She chose to become your enemy, didn't she?" Liquid asked, trying to hide the pleading in his gaze. He was grasping at straws, trying to make this right somehow.

"No. _She never defected_," Saladin answered. "She joined Volgin because she was ordered to. She had her comrades fight me because she was ordered to. She died at my hands _because she was ordered to._" Liquid just stared at his father with his eyes wide in horror.

"She was _ordered _to defect?" Liquid whispered weakly.

"Everything- my mission to rescue Sokolov, The Boss's so-called 'defection'- it was all just a set up," Saladin kept going as we flashed through the scene of her defection, "The American Philosophers orchestrated the whole thing to get at Volgin's money. Volgin's father managed the Philosophers' funds during the war. When the war was over, the father made off with the left over money- a hundred billion dollars. Volgin inherited the only known record of the accounts where the money was hidden. The Boss's mission was to earn Volgin's trust, and deliver the legacy to America. _My _mission was just another ruse so that she could step in and stop me.

"Then Volgin screwed up their plans by firing a nuke at an abandoned research lab… while my support plan was still in Soviet airspace. The Russian military leadership was inches away from ousting Khrushchev and starting a nuclear world war. Someone had to take the fall for The Philosophers' ambition. They chose The Boss… and she willingly sacrificed her life and her reputation for her country. You understand now? I had to kill the greatest soldier of the modern era because the factions of Philosophers were fighting _over money_." Liquid had started shaking in rage halfway through and grinding his teeth, but now it was just too much for him to contain.

Liquid grabbed Saladin by the collar, got in his face, and shouted, "But you _burned _those fucking sons of bitches, right? Tell me you fucking tracked them down and _skull-fucked _every single fucking last one of them!" My eyes were wide in shock, but that wasn't all I was feeling. I had never heard Liquid curse like that before in my life. But he had good reason for it; what Saladin just described… I felt like doing exactly what Liquid just said.

Saladin stared at Liquid in surprise for a second or two before his eye softened and he murmured, "Oh James…" Huh, so James was his name… As Liquid heard his father say that, his eyes widened in realization, and his grip on his father's collar loosened. He turned away from Saladin, his eyes unreadable. I gently wrapped my arms around Liquid, trying as best I could to soothe him. He put a hand on my shoulder, but it was still shivering with righteous fury.

"… The Philosophers still exist, though they claim to be completely different," Saladin declared, bringing all of our attentions back to him. "My old support team, EVA, Ocelot, and myself all formed the organization as an attempt to accomplish The Boss's dream of a united world. We used the legacy to fund our endeavors, and Zero used his influence to turn me into a messianistic figure for the world to follow. In 1972, you and your brothers were created. This was the final straw between me and Zero, and I split from The Patriots. Zero didn't want to unite the world any more, he wanted to control it with an iron fist.

"The Boss thought that once the world was under one power, everything would be at peace again. But The Patriots are now a machine built for war. Without most of the original leaders, they still go on manipulating things all over the world, orchestrating war after war for a reason only Zero understands. And soldiers like us are nothing but pawns to them. The Boss, the Cobras, me, you, FOXHOUND… I wouldn't be surprised if they had a goddamn game board with little figures of us all on it."

"So you built Outer Heaven," I stated.

"With the goal of ending The Patriots' stranglehold on the world, and giving soldiers control of their own fates," Saladin said, "No more wars orchestrated for the sake of setting off another war. No more calculated sacrifice of soldiers' lives." The scenes around us faded to black.

"So now you understand, why I did what I did. Why someone had to take up the cause, finish my work," Saladin proclaimed, putting a hand on Liquid's shoulder.

Liquid turned to Saladin, breaking our embrace, and asked, "Why didn't you tell me all this from the very beginning? If I'd known what kind of scum you were fighting against, of course I would've helped you! Instead you just jerked me around my whole life, manipulating me just like they did! And you think you're _better _than them?"

"… You could be right," Saladin sighed, "Fighting an enemy like them, I had to resort to some pretty underhanded methods. But they will _never _give you a fair fight, so you have to fight dirty. There's no low they won't stoop to, no weakness they won't exploit… God, they even use _children_." My eyes widened; that was the last _possible _straw.

"They _what_?" I 'echoed', my face twisting into a snarl as I turned to Saladin as well.

"The Boss and The Sorrow… They had a son. He-" Suddenly, there was a flash of bright green, another feeling of being pulled against my will in a certain direction, and suddenly I found myself exactly where I had been before we were sucked into Ocelot's mind with an extreme headache. I looked over to Liquid; his jaw was set in a determined frown, and his fists were clenched.

"What _was _that? It feels like my brain is gonna leak out of my ears," Octopus groaned. Mantis was standing a few meters away, his back turned to us.

Mei Ling, who was standing near us still, walked over to Mantis, tapped him on the shoulder, and asked, "Mantis? Are you alright?"

"Better than ever, my dear," Mantis said in a strange tone of voice that was both cordial and hostile as he turned around. My eyes widened; his 'eyes' were glowing _red_.

"I've been set free." That was all I heard before a pale green enveloped my senses and sent me crashing down into blackness.


	17. Chapter 17: United Front

_LAST TIME, everyone goes into Ocelot's mind, Wolf has a bad trip, they make fun of li'l Ocelot's crush on B-Boss (among other things), B-Boss shows up to show things in his perspective, we get all emo because B-Boss's life sucked, Liquid channels his inner Jan Valentine, we almost learn a spoiler that everybody and their dog knows, and Mantis decides it's time to blast all the humans, knocking out our heroine for the second time in two chapters. NOW, FOR THE THRILLING CONTINUATION. I own nothing. Like, hardly even this story because I ref so hard from Last Days O' FOXHOUND… Whatevs, let's get goin' once more. Oh yeah, and if you're not a fan of poorly written fluff- or my pairing politics- you might wanna skip most of the chapter. Hey, I've gotta fill up seven months of in-story time somehow. _

_**-United Front-**_

I let out a groan, gritting my teeth as I tried to regain my consciousness. I had been going in and out of awareness for several hours after Mantis hit me with the lightning, and all I could remember from my brief bouts of clarity were Mantis wreaking havoc, an explosion nearby in the lab, and Naomi running with something purple-ish and human shaped trailing behind her, Naomi telling the creature to hurry. I was certain that that last part was a hallucination. I was about to lapse back into unconsciousness, but suddenly a damp object surrounded by something soft (fur?) nudged my forehead, letting out a whine as it did. I opened my eyes wide to see that Berthold was right in front of me, trying desperately to get me up.

"Ah, Bertie!" I exclaimed, getting to my knees since I felt off balance and my head hurt like I had the worst hangover imaginable. Berthold's tail started wagging while it was still between his legs. I smiled calmly, trying to hide my own fear and calm him down, stroking his head while murmuring calming things in Kurdish. When Berthold seemed to be calm again, I looked him over from my limited vantage point. Berthold seemed to be perfectly fine, which prompted me to sigh in relief. I got to my feet, using a nearby piece of rubble to steady myself, and analyzed my surroundings.

The first thing I ascertained was that the base was completely destroyed. There were small fires burning here and there, people had been crushed by rubble or electrocuted by Mantis, and the sky was a reddish brown. That was probably what scared me the most about what I saw.

The second thing I figured out was that Liquid was unconscious and lying across from me. My false calm was shattered right then, and I ran over to Liquid with a nearly hysterical look. I knew he probably wasn't dead, but… still! It was Liquid! I didn't have to be logical when worrying! I knelt in front of him and shook his shoulder, trying to wake him up in vain.

"Come on Liquid…" I whispered, my voice almost cracking. He remained unresponsive. I bit my lip; there was only one way to get him to regain consciousness.

"Dammit James wake the hell up!" I shouted, getting Liquid into a sitting-up position and backhand slapping him _hard_. Liquid's eyes flew wide open from that blow, and after he blinked a few times to regain his bearings, Liquid just turned and stared at me wide-eyed. Immediately I regretted slapping him, though it still did feel good to hit him.

I smiled sheepishly and said, "Sorry I hit you, this was the only way I could get you up."

"It's not the slapping I'm surprised about," Liquid said in a rather dazed tone. "It's more the fact that you called me by my real name." I rolled my eyes with a smirk before pulling him to his feet.

"Urgh, what happened?" Liquid asked, holding a hand to his head. "It feels like I got hit by a bolt of-" Suddenly with a large 'KRA-KOW' Raven went flying past us, being pushed back through the air by a large bolt of Mantis's psychic lightning. Liquid and I could only stare in shock at the timing of that. Mantis floated into view right then, reminding Liquid and I of our priorities.

"That'll teach you not to wear a shirt," Mantis snickered in Raven's direction.

"Mantis!" Liquid called, grabbing the psychic's attention.

"Didn't I incinerate the two of you?" Mantis snapped, turning our way with more psychic lightning crackling around his hands as he glared at us through the gas mask.

I glared back and him and shot back, "If I could be incinerated so easily I wouldn't have survived my whole childhood. And I think we both know what Liquid can and can't live through."

"What the bloody hell are you _doing_?" Liquid asked, bringing us back to the topic at hand.

"What does it _look _like, you limey fuck? I'm immolating everything within a hundred mile radius," Mantis replied, crossing his arms over his chest conceitedly.

"_Why_?" Liquid questioned further.

"Why _not_?" Mantis countered. Liquid opened his mouth to speak, but closed it soon after.

"… Alright, why are you doing it _now_?" Liquid clarified, raising an eyebrow as the initial shock wore off.

"A much better question," Mantis remarked, "But really, the question is why I haven't gone on a tear like this before. Have I ever told you how much I love pain and suffering?"

"Pretty much since the day we met," I answered, scratching the back of my head.

"Yes! And yet, for all this time I've been a _saint_, haven't I?" Mantis continued.

"I don't know about that-"

"_A SAINT! _It's all so clear now… When I came to this country- when I started working for _them_- they made me something I'm not," Mantis finished, clenching his fists tightly in barely suppressed anger and frustration.

"They?" Liquid echoed.

"The people who truly run this country," Mantis explained, "The La Li Lu Le Lo." All was silent for several seconds as we pondered what exactly Mantis just said.

"… The _what?_" Liquid and I said in perfect tandem. Even Berthold looked perplexed by the odd noun that was 'La Li Lu Le Lo'.

"Um… That isn't what I mean to say," Mantis said, looking as perplexed as we were. "I was trying to say, the La Li Lu Le Lo." Another few minutes of silence passed.

"Dammit, what's wrong with me? Agh, I meant-" Mantis cut himself off by firing another bolt of psychic lightning into a wall some feet behind us. Liquid and I immediately ducked, and when Mantis stopped and we got back up, I turned to the wall. Written on the wall in scorch marks was 'The Patriots'. Liquid read it too when he worked up the nerve to.

"Oh, right. The La Li Lu Le Lo," Liquid remarked. Immediately his face registered shock; obviously he hadn't meant to say La Li Lu Le Lo.

"… It's got to be something in the nanomachines, the Codec," I muttered, putting a hand to my chin. "The L- _they _probably have that kind of skill, I can tell."

"Well, whatever," Mantis said with a shrug, "Thanks to the… to _them_, I don't give a flying fuck about anything anymore. Except for one thing. I will _never _forgive them for stealing my genes. I'll burn down the entire world before I see an army of Mantis knockoffs. They'll pay for this _insult_."

"And what about _us_?" Liquid demanded.

"What _about _you?" Mantis shot back.

"Look, you've got a beef with the L- with _them_, and I'm right there with you," Liquid explained.

"Killing _us _isn't going to help!" I finished, throwing my arms out wide for emphasis.

"Maybe," Mantis said with a light shrug, "But it's not going to hurt, either."

Liquid cracked his knuckles, narrowing his eyes, and growled, "That's where you're wrong." Without room for one whole breath, Mantis hit Liquid with another lightning bolt. Liquid let out a cry of pain that was simply bloodcurdling, but when the lightning dissipated Liquid was still standing, hunched over and burned slightly but still alive. I was about to run over to him, but Liquid turned to me and shook his head before attempting to stand up straight again.

Before Liquid could even say anything, Mantis hit him with another lightning bolt. I could see Liquid fighting down the urge to cry out, and this time when Mantis was through zapping him Liquid was nearly on his knees. He had barely even gotten up the third time before Mantis hit him a third time. This time I didn't even wait to hear Liquid's pained howl, mostly because I wasn't really thinking so much as running on pure, righteous fury. I began running at him from the side.

"Do I actually have to explain why you should give up?" Mantis wondered, staring Liquid down conceitedly. "_I can read your mind-_" Before Mantis could say another infuriating thing, I had leapt on him like a jungle cat, knocking the psychic to the ground. Mantis hit the ground hard, and by association so did I, but since I had him to diffuse the impact I was in perfect shape to punch him even harder in the face. Twice. Three times. Okay, I had knocked Mantis out on the first punch, but I kept punching him over and over until Berthold dragged me off. I just realized how odd it was to have your wolf companion mediate a 'fight'.

After Liquid had recuperated- which took all of five seconds- he and I were able to bind Mantis's arms and legs before we searched for the others. Raven and Octopus were alive and conscious enough, while Mei Ling was in a state of half-consciousness, Ocelot was still knocked out cold and Naomi was still missing. We all regrouped back near Mantis.

"We should kill him," I stated, starting off the impromptu meeting. I looked around at the group; everyone looked pretty battered and exhausted- even myself, since I just realized that I had a large cut on my forehead and blood was running down my face like a waterfall- while Mei Ling looked about ready to pass out as she clung to Raven's right arm to keep herself upright.

"No," Liquid snapped, shooting me what could've passed for a glare with enough imagination.

"He's too dangerous," Octopus insisted, "We're all lucky to be alive after that! You think we can ever trust him again?"

"Trust him not to want deep down to kill every living thing on the planet? No," Liquid replied, "But I think we can trust him to recognize that he'll be better off _not _killing us. He doesn't really care about us. He wants to hurt the La Li Lu Le Lo."

"He's got something against nonexistent Japanese syllables?" Raven wondered, raising an eyebrow. Liquid let out a small growl.

The blonde 'Snake' continued, "I'm talking about the people who screwed him over. The same people that screwed over my father, The Boss, The Sorrow, the whole _world_. It's happening all over again. We're on the brink of killing each other because of their _meddling_. Well I've had enough of it! I won't be manipulated by them any more!"

"Who's 'them'?" Mei Ling slurred, five seconds away from losing consciousness.

"Shut up, you missed it," Octopus snapped. The Chinese girl shrugged and finally lost consciousness.

"I'll bring them down no matter what it takes. I'll free the soldiers of the world from their control," Liquid finished, clenching his fists tightly in determination. My eyes widened; there was no way…

"… You're really going to do it," I stated, my tone of voice hard even for me to describe. "You're going to rebuild Outer Heaven!"

Liquid smirked and replied, "Exactly." I stared at him in shock for a second or so, but suddenly I just couldn't hold back a smile.

"Listen, Liquid, I'm know fan of the L- the you know," Octopus began, stepping forward, "But let's pretend for a moment that I'm a coward, and that fighting them sounds very unappealing."

"Isn't your entire methodology about hiding in plain sight?" Liquid asked, raising an eyebrow. "They can't touch you if they don't recognize you."

"I suppose… Alright, I'm in," Octopus replied with a smirk. Liquid grinned wider and nodded in satisfaction before turning towards me. Liquid closed the distance between us, and by that I mean that there was barely a foot between us.

"What about you, Wolf?" Liquid asked.

I laughed a bit and replied, "Of course, Liquid." Liquid's grin widened even more, and it was written all over his face that he was trying to fight the urge to kiss me out of 'gratitude'.

"Excellent," Liquid said before looking up at Raven. "How about you, Raven?"

"These are weighty matters you speak of, Liquid," Raven said, his tone extremely serious. "Are you truly committed to seeing this through to the end, no matter the cost?"

"Hell yeah," Liquid replied simply.

Raven grinned as well and declared, "Alright. I'm in." Liquid walked away from me and Raven, going over to Mantis now as the psychic regained consciousness.

"Well, Mantis? We've got an army," Liquid stated, "Ready for the war?" Mantis looked over at him and silently contemplated that statement for a second or two.

"… Whatever you say, Boss," Mantis said, an obvious smirk behind his gas mask. Right then Ocelot sat up, looking even more exhausted than the rest of us.

"Christ, my _head_… Hey guys," Ocelot said while rubbing his temples. We all just stared at him as he looked around.

"… When did we get to Bosnia?" Ocelot wondered. I rolled my eyes and face palmed, realizing a second later that now my glove was covered in blood.

Several days passed, and since not even the basic structure of the building could be repaired, we were moved to a different base in California that we were apparently stealing from Dead Cell. That made the move far more tolerable, knowing that we were stealing our 'competition's' house. The building was just as unimpressive as the old one on the outside, though it was much nicer on the inside and far taller above and beneath ground. There was also a forest nearby this one as well, but it wasn't as big as the one back at the old base.

In addition to our location change, Mei Ling was shipped back home while she was still unconscious, Dr. Clarke had been found dead in the wreckage of her lab, and we found Naomi again just in time for the location change. Campbell gathered us in the new briefing room- which took us all several hours to find since it was, confusingly, on one of the underground levels- on our first official day in the new base to, basically, brief us.

"Based on Liquid's recommendation, all charges against Mantis have been dropped and he'll remain part of the unit," Campbell began.

"Thanks Liquid," Mantis mentioned.

"No worries," Liquid replied with a shrug and a grin.

Campbell cleared his throat and continued, "That said, there's going to be a lot of fallout over this. You're going to be under heavy scrutiny from the Senate Oversight Committee. They won't tolerate any more screwups. You're on thin ice, and that's not even to mention that ninja escaping."

"Wait, what?" I 'wondered', quirking an eyebrow. What did a ninja have to do with all this?

"Dr. Clarke and her people were working on the Cyborg Ninja Project," Campbell explained, "I don't know the details, it was top secret. All I know is that the 'ninja' is extremely dangerous. But apparently somewhere in the confusion of the explosion and the overall chaos, said 'cyborg ninja' got loose." I narrowed my eyes, that had to be Grey Fox. Naomi fidgeted around next to me, biting her lip and looking away. I narrowed my eyes even more; perhaps that last thing I had seen _hadn't _been an illusion…

"Anything else we ought to know?" Liquid asked, crossing his arms over his chest and raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, one other thing," Campbell replied, fishing some kind of envelope from nowhere as he walked over to Liquid.

He shoved the envelope into Liquid's hands and continued, "You're in command of the unit from now on." The only pair of eyes in the room that hadn't widened to twice their normal size after that rather spur of the moment announcement were Campbell's.

"I _am_?" Liquid 'echoed' in disbelief.

"Holy Christ!" Octopus interjected.

"But why the sudden change? Are the higher-ups _that _impressed with Liquid's development?" I asked, furrowing my eyebrows.

"Maybe. The president made the choice himself," Campbell answered, "But it's mostly because I'm _retiring_." And with that, Campbell made his way for the door. Well, not _just _with that.

"And if I see _any _of you psychotic nutballs again, it'll be too soon," Campbell remarked before slamming the door behind him.

"… I'm not a psychotic nutball!" Octopus exclaimed, glaring after Campbell. I took this opportunity to grab Naomi by the arm and drag her into the corner of the room farthest from the others.

"Naomi, I think you and I both know who that ninja really was," I began. Naomi inhaled sharply, her eyes widening a bit in anxiety and fear.

"… Did you cause the explosion in Dr. Clarke's lab and set Grey Fox loose?" I asked. Naomi looked at her feet in silence for a bit.

After a while, Naomi replied, "Yes, I did. But, Wolf, you have to understand! Frankie is my only family, I couldn't just let Clarke keep doing those horrible experiments! H-he's my brother…" Immediately my 'stern' face melted into a caring smile.

"Of course I understand, Naomi. In fact, I applaud you for taking initiative like that," I replied, grinning at the end. Naomi mustered up a sheepish smile, and we probably would've hugged if the others weren't around.

It was seven months before our next truly challenging mission. Apparently, the higher-ups didn't trust us with challenging and interesting missions for that time period after what Mantis's freakout had caused. However, that's not to say those months weren't interesting, definitely not. Well, at least for Liquid and me. At the beginning of the month, we were sent on a boring mission that required nearly no action from me. I found myself up in a tree the entire time, switching between reading, staring at the leaves, and calling anyone who wasn't doing anything on the Codec. Most of the time, this was Liquid or Raven, since this mission was primarily a mission for Octopus, Mantis and Ocelot when you got down to it. In fact, I didn't even know the details of the mission.

I had just finished a chapter in the book I was reading when Liquid contacted me on the Codec for the seventh time. I fumbled with answering, since I still wasn't used to the nanomachines and really hadn't used them all that much. That, and I had to grab a leaf to use as a temporary bookmark.

"What now?" I asked casually, trying to downplay my Codec-answering fail.

"Well, I wanted to ask you something, Wolf," Liquid replied. I quirked an eyebrow, he sounded a little nervous, which was something Liquid rarely was.

"Shoot," I said, shrugging both in real life and on my Codec image.

"Please don't kill me when I ask this, but will you go out with me?" Liquid asked. I blinked a few times before letting out a small laugh; I remembered when I had first threatened him, and apparently he did too. Seems like it traumatized the poor Brit.

"Of course, Liquid," I laughed. He let out a relieved sigh, and I had to hold back another laugh. But really, I found myself illogically happy as I asked Liquid when we should do this, since we had a few more missions within the next few days. I shouldn't be so ecstatic that someone was asking me out, though when I thought about it the joy probably came from the fact that Liquid and I were actually swallowing our pride and actually doing something about the unresolved sexual tension that hung between us thick enough to cut with a chainsaw.

Three days later, we went on our impromptu date. I call it impromptu since we decided it was as good a time as any to figure out the layout of the medium-sized city- I think they called it Santa Barbara, but I'm not sure- near our new 'home', and basically ended up wandering around the place, getting lost several times, weirding people out (since we still refused to change into civilian clothes), and basically feeling like tourists. That's not a good feeling, let me tell you.

However, I was able to ignore it all the way to the end, mostly because I was having too much fun. The entire thing flowed easily and fluidly, since Liquid and I already knew each other well and didn't have to use this first date as a 'getting to know you' kind of thing. The rest of the first month was filled with easy missions and more instances of Liquid and I stumbling around like the foreigners we were and ignoring that because it was just plain fun.

The second month was more of that, though by the middle of it we had figured the town out. Well, the important parts anyways. We still got confused when we were trying to get in our out of the city. However, this was the month that we officially started bickering, since we had both acknowledged the fact that we were actually in a relationship by this point.

Normally it was harmless and resolved itself quickly, but every now and again things would get in the way of a mission, and we'd almost botch the whole thing up. However, being slapped on the back of the head by our cohorts and snapping out of it solved those disputes. It was in the second month that Berthold began to like Liquid, which I knew was a good sign. At the beginning of the third month, Liquid finally asked me for my real name after a mission that was rather exhausting in its tediousness. When I told him, he looked surprised for several seconds before smiling and telling me it was beautiful. I blushed and punched him lightly on the arm for being a sap.

Our relationship remained not-so-serious for about two more weeks in the third month, but our fights changed from semi-frequent, sometimes getting in the way, and relatively harmless to… something else all together. Apparently, learning how to keep our animosity in check at least during missions turned our fights from simple arguments to flat out screaming matches of epic proportions that just got flat out silly (and kind of awesome) sometimes and ended up resolving themselves within minutes. I supposed it was only typical that Liquid and I would have some peculiar aspects to our relationship, since to be fair we were quite peculiar.

The other half of this month and nearly all of the next were rather calm in a way that was hard to describe. I could feel beneath the surface that our relationship was trying to find out where it was going, whether we were going to stay together or break up before things got serious. I could feel it, things were going to get _much _harder soon, and I just didn't know if we'd be able to handle this. I still wasn't even sure that I was really in love with Liquid! Though by this point I was pretty sure…

Anyway, during this time I would spend hours sitting on the roof, not sniping, just thinking. Sometimes I wondered if maybe I should veer away from being so angry when Liquid and me fought, but those thoughts would go away within a moment; perhaps a part of me liked our loud, ridiculous, awesome fights, which was something I didn't really know _how _to analyze. At this point though, I was adamant about not throwing sex into the mix.

Sure, Liquid and I had kissed several times- I didn't feel like I needed to mention that, when it happened it happened naturally as breathing- but I was determined not to get sex mixed up in this wonderful mess of a relationship just yet, because sex _always _made things complicated. I figured that out the hard way on my eighteenth birthday… but enough of that.

Despite my best efforts, however, one day at the very beginning of the fifth month, it happened. One thing led to another after a tedious, _tedious _mission, and the two of us ended up having sex. I know you'd just _love _me to describe the affair in detail, but sadly for you I won't. I will sum it up in one word, though: Awesome. I probably would've fallen asleep directly afterwards from how exhausted it left me if I wasn't addicted to tranquilizers and therefore unable to sleep at the present moment. Liquid, however, was out like he had been hit with a cinderblock.

However, about a half an hour later, while I was looking at the ceiling and lost in my own thoughts, Liquid began fidgeting in his sleep. I sat up, my brow furrowed, to investigate this. Though he was fast asleep, Liquid looked just about as restless as he had back when he had been mentally fighting Saladin. I didn't understand, what else could be keeping him 'up' like this? But then my thoughts rushed back to our experience in Ocelot's mind, and all the times Liquid and Saladin had alluded to his genuinely awful early life… was that part of it? Liquid clenched his hands into fists, gritting his teeth as well as he began to murmur things so low I couldn't decipher them. I could make out 'Oh My God' and 'Shut up', though.

Immediately it dawned on me: Nightmares. Liquid was a soldier, and one with a terrible past, it was only natural for him to have terrible dreams of his misfortune. So, now I really knew why he was always so tired. I reached out and placed a hand on his shoulder, which immediately snapped him awake. I nearly jumped from how fast his eyes opened. Liquid looked over at me, obviously wide awake; I had experience with nightmares, and I knew how alert they made you feel after you'd broken their grasp on your mind. I just stared back at him, not entirely sure how I looked right now.

After a few seconds of silence, I murmured, "So, this is why…" I trailed off; for some reason, I just didn't have the will to finish.

"… When I pass out after hours of trying not to fall asleep, I don't dream," Liquid said slowly, "But when I just go right to sleep, the nightmares… well, to say the least, they make me not want to sleep." My first instinct led me to slide back down so I was lying next to him and wrap my arms tightly around him, burying my face into the back of his shoulder.

"I promise, Liquid, I'm here for you," I whispered in a comforting tone, "You're not going to dream those terrible things, not while I'm around." Liquid didn't say anything, but he did roll over so he was facing me to embrace me as well in a rather tight hold. Obviously, nobody had ever done this for him before. I wondered just how long he had been forced to brave the darkness alone…

I was ninety-nine percent sure that I was in love with Liquid by this point, and the numerous times this scene repeated itself over the fifth month nearly assured me of it. Things also began to start evening out around this point, and our fights began to lessen in intensity and only slightly increase in frequency since we now had make-up sex to fall back on. However, though I was nearly sure that I was in love with Liquid, I still didn't have the guts to say it. Naomi would berate me teasingly for it, and I'd have to agree with her in that aspect of this endeavor. Mantis would also gripe at me for being completely incapable of spitting it out, which apparently bored him.

Nearly at the end of the sixth month, we got a mission that, while not challenging, was actually rather _fun_. It had been ages since we had gotten a truly enjoyable mission, and that fact alone left me almost completely drained. In fact, almost all of us were drained by that fact. I nearly tripped when I was getting out of the car after we had arrived back at HQ. Liquid caught me before I could hit my head on the ground. Liquid and I stayed side-by-side on our way to the base, Liquid presumably standing close for the obvious reasons and so he could be prepared if I fell on my ass again.

"Wow, is it bad that I'm exhausted from something fun?" I wondered, folding my arms behind my head.

"Well, you're always exhausted after-" Liquid began with a sly smirk before I cut him off with "THAT'S DIFFERENT."

"Well, anyway, all I want now is to attempt to pass out on the nearest soft thing that isn't Berthold," I remarked, "How about you?" I stopped a few feet from the door; Liquid wasn't beside me, and he hadn't been for several paces now. I furrowed my eyebrows, let my arms fall into a normal position, and turned to glance over my shoulder at Liquid. He seemed to be contemplating something, but I couldn't tell just what it was.

"Wait a minute- he's _finally _going to spit it out? But that'll make things less _interesting_," Mantis commented sarcastically from the 'sidelines'.

"… Wolf?" Liquid asked, looking up and ignoring Mantis.

"Heeere it comes," Mantis continued.

"Yeah?" I 'replied', also ignoring Mantis.

"Wolf- No… Ferishteh, I love you," Liquid said, looking me straight in the eye. All I could do for nearly five minutes was stare back at him. And for two of those five, I couldn't find the words I needed. There were just no words floating around in my mind, just pure shock. And then, after those two minutes, a few words slowly leaked into my empty mind.

_"You love him too. You love him more than Saladin, more than anyone else who has briefly captured your heart. You'd die for him, but you'd rather find an honest way to get out of that kind of situation with everyone alive. You love him, and you'd better tell him that now before he gets the idea that you don't." _

My face broke into a wide, bright smile, and as I ran towards Liquid I exclaimed, "I love you too! I don't know why it took me so long to realize it, but I love you too!" I nearly tackled him with my flying, jumping hug, but Liquid could withstand far stronger things than just me.

"And _FINALLY_, it ends! Thank God, I don't have to listen to them thinking over and over about the same damn thing!" Mantis yelled in relief, throwing up his hands. I had to resist the urge to laugh.

The seventh month passed by in a blur of boring missions and a nearly figured out bliss. Of course, Liquid and I were still in a relationship I'd call a wonderful mess, and the word 'mess' was in there for a reason, probably because of how downright peculiar it could be. And how strange the two of us were. And how intense our fights could get. I nearly threw a salami at Liquid one time, but the fact I was about to smack him with tube-shaped meat caught up to us before anything could happen, and we both just stared at each other for a little while before deciding to end the fight in a technical draw and forgetting it even happened.

At the end of the month, we were given a mission in Central America, and on the very last day of the final month we were right in the middle of flying there. I stared out the window and prayed for this mission to be at the least entertaining.

_The reason I didn't really go into detail on the seven months of Liquid and Wolf finally sucking it up and getting together is because I could basically write a whole other fanfic on just that if I did write it in detail. But there would STILL be NO SEX SCENES FOR YOU._


	18. Chapter 18: Central America

_FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, SNAKE IS GOING TO APPEAR WHEN HE F*CKING APPEARS. PLEASE, BE PATIENT! … Ahem. LAST TIME, Mantis went cuckoo for coco puffs, FOXHOUND decided that them Patriot sons a' bitches were goin' down, Campbell was all like 'Screw this I'm outta here', Naomi let Gray Fox loose on teh world, we spent seven months doing nothing but fluffing, and I couldn't come up with a creative title for this chapter. SO LET'S GO. I own nothing. Seriously, like, hardly anything. _

_**-Central America-**_

Our mission in Central America was relatively simple to understand: find the compound of a general whose name I forgot, wreck the place, then take the general in question. We were currently in the middle of the second part of that plan. I was just content to watch from my sniping spot on a nearby hill with Berthold sitting next to me (yes, I had 'snuck' him on another mission, though Liquid didn't really care if I brought Berthold or not). Right then I realized I had to report to Liquid, so I hooked up my wireless radio. We decided to stick to the low-tech way of communication for three reasons. The first was that The Patriots had a slightly harder time jacking into radio transmissions, the second was that we decided Codec was too much trouble since 'conference calls' weren't really possible (and we all didn't get how to work the damn thing), and the third was because Raven didn't have it.

"This is Wolf. I'm in position," I reported calmly, focusing in on the compound through the scope.

"Roger that," Liquid replied. "Raven?"

"I'm here," the Shaman replied from his post, "Has Mantis finished yet?" I could hear Mantis trying to probe a goon's mind for the access code Raven needed. Apparently, even some of the low-level subordinates here had psychic insulation. That wasn't a problem, since Mantis had found he could get through it via 'brute force', but it was a hassle.

"This can all be over very quickly," Mantis said in the background (I could _feel _his eyes glowing bright green through the radio). "Just tell me the code."

"I don't have it! I swear to God I don't have it!" The goon exclaimed (also in the background), frightened for his life.

"Psychic insulation for a _goon_. What a waste of time," Mantis muttered, turning the mind-control off for a second before he demanded, "You're going to tell me that code."

"Mantis, we're on the clock here," Raven said, "Hurry it up." I could hear Mantis mutter something under his breath, but I couldn't make it out.

After a little bit, the goon broke and said in a soulless monotone, "9 9 0 7 1 F 3 F."

"Check it," Mantis said, sounding just a little bit smug.

After a pause- during which I could hear buttons being pressed and a lock unlocking through Raven's end- Raven said, "I'm in."

"Good," Mantis said with the telltale sound of a human being electrocuted in the background, "And don't _ever _give me that 'on the clock' bullshit. I know what I'm doing." I smirked a bit as I thought of Mantis; I could hardly believe that I was used to his homicidal tendencies and jerkass behavior by now. Well, maybe the fact that he now wore a pretty cool-looking trench coat over his bondage gear-esque outfit helped a bit.

"Could we possibly speed things up here?" Ocelot wondered over the radio.

"This pile of dead goons is becoming unmanageable," Octopus chimed in. I smiled sheepishly; Octopus and Ocelot had been stuck over on the complete other side of the compound dealing with the majority of the soldiers, and since the facility was on high alert there was quite a bit for them to deal with.

"I'm working as fast as I can," Raven snapped, "_Mantis _took too long getting the code." I looked over to Berthold and scratched him on the head with a light smile; his tail started wagging double time.

"No one told us these red shirts had nanotech! Don't pin that on me," Mantis shot back.

"Let's save the usual bitching and moaning for later, alright? I'd like to think we-" Liquid was cut off by someone jacking into our frequency and shouting in accented English, "_Attention Invading Foreign Shits!_" My eyes widened at the sudden shock, and immediately I looked around for the source of the interruption.

"What th- who is this?" Liquid demanded.

"This is the man on whose property you are trespassing," our new adversary snapped back, "I have monitored your feminine whining on this frequency for several hours."

"Damn it, Raven! _This _is why we're supposed to be using Codec!" Ocelot exclaimed angrily over the radio.

"We are _not _going through _this _again," Raven said in an irate tone. Right then, I finally found our new adversary out in the open. Immediately I cringed and zoomed out; I was staring straight at a _very _fat man in a military uniform. He wasn't nearly as obese as Fatman, but he was pretty damn close. It was right then that I realized exactly what _kind _of military uniform that was, or more specifically what _rank_.

"What the Hell- _you're_ the general?" I exclaimed.

"Yes, this is the voice of General Cardena, the Mountain Fox!" he replied.

"'Mountain Fox' my ass, you're a tub of lard! You weren't nearly so fat in our recon photo," I remarked.

"Ha! Well, in that case, perhaps you'll offer me some exercise," Cardena said, "I challenge your leader to one-on-one combat!"

"A fatso, you say? Doesn't sound very sporting, but if you insist. I'll take a shot at you," Liquid replied, his smirk so obvious anyone could hear it through the radio.

"Don't bother. I'll take one for you," I said with a smirk. Cardena was perfectly in my crosshairs; there was absolutely no way I could miss. I pulled the trigger, and the bullet flew right along the path I had set for it. Right as it was about to hit Cardena, however, the bullet hit something I couldn't see (creating a strange ripple effect around the point of impact) and went flying in the opposite direction. My smirk fell and was replaced with a look that perfectly illustrated the two words running through my head: '_The FUCK?' _

"Now, perhaps it becomes clear why I do not exert myself much lately?" Cardena wondered smugly with a smirk to match. Immediately I ground my teeth angrily at that.

"Liquid, this guy has some sort of shield! I can't hit him- the shield deflects bullets!" I called over the radio, both angry and panicked at the same time.

"_Bullet deflector shield_? Are you _kidding_?" Liquid wondered, incredulous.

"Not even a little, though I wish I was," I replied, "Ocelot, did you see it?"

"Yeah, I saw it," Ocelot replied, "Listen Liquid, this is something the Pentagon has been working on for years. It's not supposed to be ready yet. How _this _asshole got hold of it I have no damn clue."

"No worries. I'll pry it off his bloated corpse," Liquid said, his grin audibly coming back. Liquid and Mantis might've said something after that, but I wasn't really paying attention. I was too busy trying to find a way to look at Cardena without actually looking at him. I mean… he was kind of unpleasant to look at for extended periods of time. Right then, Liquid walked out to the large empty area Cardena was standing in, looking quite confident as he did. Well, of course he was going to be confident in a match up against this guy. I then noticed that there was one hand behind his back, but thought nothing of it.

"You're the lardass I'm supposed to fight, eh?" Liquid wondered, raising an eyebrow to go along with his smug smirk.

"And you're the American dog bastard shit who has violated my property," Cardena replied. I cringed a bit; this guy had quite the foul mouth, yet another unpleasant thing about him.

"Name's Liquid Snake," Liquid corrected him.

"I prefer American Dog Bastard Shit," Cardena commented. Liquid's grin fell for about a millisecond at that comment, but he bounced back quick enough. He always did.

"I hear you're bulletproof," Liquid remarked, "Mind if I try something?" He fidgeted with whatever he had behind his back for a few seconds before rolling a pin-less grenade across the ground to stop right at Cardena's feet. Instead of regarding the explosive with shock and terror, like most people would, Cardena simply raised an eyebrow at it with a bored expression. For a second I wondered what was wrong with the guy, but then I realized that the grenade should've exploded by this point.

"My shield, she also disables the triggers of explosive devices like grenades and missiles," Cardena explained, looking smug again.

"Oh come on! That's just preposterous!" Liquid exclaimed.

"But an electromagnetic shield that deflects bullets- this you are fine with?" Cardena wondered, his smug-ness almost tangible.

"Well, never mind. Let's just get on with it," Liquid said, his grin returning as he got into his stance. Immediately he lunged at Cardena and threw a punch, but the obese general blocked it like it was nothing and dealt Liquid a devastating right hook. I bit my lip; this guy was fat, but he was strong too. They didn't call him the Mountain Fox for no reason.

"This is bad, Bertie," I said, my tone conveying how worried I was, "This guy is the worst kind of opponent for a fighter like Liquid. Liquid specializes in hitting fast and hard, but this guy can take a lot of punishment and might be able to crush Liquid's lungs just by sitting on him." Berthold gave me a look that said 'I could go down there and rip out Cardena's jugular vein for you if you just asked', which made me smile just a bit.

"Hey, Wolf, can you still get a bead on Cardena from there?" Ocelot asked, jolting me out of my reverie.

"Yeah, but that's not going to make much of a difference," I replied irately.

"See if you can spot his shield generator. It's palm-sized," Ocelot 'ordered'. I looked through my scope at Cardena, but definitely not willingly.

"Do you have _any idea _how much surface area this pig has? He might have it tucked between his chins!" I snapped.

"Just look for any small bulges that aren't hair or flab," Ocelot sighed.

"I'll go to maximum zoom and see what I can find," I said, resigned to my fate. I zoomed in as close as I could go- which was uncomfortably close- and looked around.

I sighed and muttered to myself, "Nothing but his huge stomach bursting out of his shirt. It's a miracle he could find pants to fit into…" Right then, something clicked in my mind. I don't know what or how, but something just did.

"Wait a minute… That's it! His belt buckle!" I exclaimed with a smile as I focused on that through the scope. There were two lights, one red and one green, on the belt buckle, and it was just the right size to be the shield generator.

"Liquid, you have to get his pants off! Get those pants off him right now!" I called through the radio. I could see Liquid cringe in disgust from here.

"… Woman, I have done many things for you, but that is the one thing I _refuse _to do!" Liquid shouted with just a tiny bit of panic in his voice.

"This is no time to start getting your perv on, Humpwagon," Mantis added. Huh, 'humpwagon'. That was a new one. Most of the time he just stuck to 'whorebag' or 'slutbucket'.

"His belt buckle is the _shield generator_. Get his pants off and I'll pop his skull," I sighed exasperatedly.

"I'll stick to hitting him repeatedly, thank you _very _much," Liquid replied. I growled under my breath; he was just so _difficult _sometimes! It just made me want to strangle him!

"Try crushing the thing with your hand. I'm sure the electronics are fairly delicate," Ocelot suggested.

"I'm not putting my hand that close to his crotch!" Liquid yelped.

"I would ridicule your obvious closet issues, but I don't particularly want to see this guy pantsless either," Mantis added. I ground my teeth; enough was enough, I had _had _it with their bitching.

"Would you all stop acting like idiots? We have to get that shield off him somehow!" I snapped.

"_God_. Liquid, just kick the fucker a few inches north of the family jewels," Octopus groaned.

"Now _that's _the kind of plan I can get behind," Liquid replied with a grin.

"I can hear you talking to all of them, you know," Cardena mentioned. I could hear the sound of palm hitting face on Ocelot's end.

"Don't concern yourself with this," Cardena declared with a haughty grin, tapping his belt buckle to indicate it, "It'll take more than an army boot to shut t-" Right then I noticed Berthold wasn't sitting beside me anymore. My eyes widened in shock and I looked around frantically, but then I heard a painful chomping sound from the battle below. I looked down there to see that Berthold had bitten Cardena… very close to his belt buckle, let's just say. I winced a bit, pitying my poor companion. It seemed that Liquid did too, since he had a nearly identical expression at the situation before us.

"… Thanks, Berthold. I'll find some way to make this up to you," Liquid said, his grin returning as he ripped the belt from Cardena's pants. Berthold took that opportunity to release Cardena and sit beside Liquid.

"Okay Wolf, blow this guy away," Liquid ordered smugly.

"With pleasure," I replied, getting my crosshairs lined up just right and pulling the trigger. Immediately I let out a Kurdish curse when the shot just bounced off the shield again.

"Damn, the shield is still working. You have to get away from him first!" I called. Immediately Berthold and Liquid began to run from Cardena, but the fat general immediately took off after him.

"Geez, he keeps pretty good pace for a three hundred pound tub of lard with a bleeding crotch," Ocelot remarked. I tried another shot, but it just bounced off the shield a third time.

"Shit! Gotta go further, Liquid," I reported. Liquid rounded a corner into an alleyway, and Cardena followed close behind him.

"Uh, what about now?" Liquid asked.

"… Now you're out of my line of sight," I replied. I moved over several feet, and though I could see the chase, I couldn't quite get the shot in on Cardena. But I did see something approaching from the corner of my eye…

"Oh, thank you _so _much. What the Hell am I supposed to do n-" Liquid was interrupted by the barrel of an M1 Abrams tank hitting him in the forehead, knocking him to the ground. I blinked a few times in surprise and looked over at the rest of the tank. I tilted my head to the side in confusion when I saw that Raven was piloting it. Where the Hell did he get it? Before I could run down there and have him answer my questions, Raven opened fire with the tank on Cardena. I looked away at the time of the shot, and when I looked back… suffice to say, you could barely even tell that what Raven shot had been _human_.

I blinked a few times before going down there. Immediately Berthold ran up to me, tail wagging. It seemed that the tank hadn't spooked him, though I can't see why a tank is so much better than a boat to him. Oh well, that was just Berthold for you. I scratched him behind the ears and gave him praise for helping out Liquid before going over to him. Liquid was still on the ground, a bit surprised by Raven's sudden appearance and with a small cut on his forehead from where the tank barrel hit him, but other than that Liquid was pretty much fine. I smiled a bit and helped him to his feet, AKA pulling him into a standing position.

"You actually had me worried for a few seconds there," I commented.

"Aww, I'm hurt that you didn't expect more from me," Liquid replied sarcastically, poking me on the forehead. I batted his hand away with a smirk.

"Don't see any more goons around, they must've ran off," Ocelot reported as he walked over.

"Aww," Liquid said with a little pout. I smiled a little wider; of course he was disappointed, he had hardly started killing people on this mission.

"Eh, I was getting tired of killing 'em," Ocelot remarked with a shrug. Liquid and I immediately gave Ocelot suspicious looks, since neither of us wanted to use the old 'Who are you and what have you done with so and so' quote.

"Oh well. Get the higher-ups on the phone and tell them to come pick up these tanks," Liquid ordered, "I'll hold on to the shield until we get back to the states."

"Uh, Liquid, about that," Raven began, getting out of the tank, "I had an idea, and, uh…" Raven whispered the rest in Liquid's ear. I just had to raise an eyebrow at that.

Liquid's eyes widened, and right after Raven had stopped Liquid exclaimed, "_No_, you can't keep a tank!" I did _not _want to hear the rest of this conversation, so I walked back to the plane. Octopus was milling around there, and as soon as he saw me he walked up with a peculiarly eager expression.

"Hey, Wolf! I'm glad I caught you. So, can I try some of those tranquilizers?" Octopus asked with a grin. Immediately my expression went flat; so _that's _what he wanted. He always flirted with Naomi to get some, but she turned him down every time. And he thought _I _would be any more generous?

"No," I deadpanned. Immediately Octopus's shoulders sank.

"Aw come on! Why nnnnnuuh… wha?" Octopus's sentence trailed off and my flat expression turned to confusion for the exact same reason; there was a dead goon floating past us. This was Mantis's work. Immediately we followed the body into the cargo hold. I cringed; there were tons more along with it, and Mantis was sitting nearby reading.

"… Dare I ask?" Octopus wondered.

"Probably not," Mantis replied.

"I don't know what this is for, and I don't care. Get this shit off the plane!" Octopus exclaimed, pointing out of the cargo hold.

"No way. You're going to just have to deal with it," Mantis replied nonchalantly.

"Not a fucking chance!" Octopus yelled. "The smell _alone_-"

"What's this about?" Liquid asked, climbing into the cargo hold with us. It seemed his discussion with Raven had concluded, and right then Liquid noticed Mantis's… collection.

"Ah. A pile of corpses," Liquid said, turning to Mantis. "Mantis?"

"Yeah?" Mantis asked back.

"Why is there a pile of corpses on this plane?" Liquid asked.

"What, _this _pile of corpses?" Mantis wondered innocently.

Liquid narrowed his eyes and asked, "Is there _another one _I should know about?"

"Nah, just this one. It's for an experiment," Mantis answered.

"And you call _me _a pervert?" Ocelot called from outside.

"A _scientific _experiment!" Mantis shouted back. This was fine with Liquid for the time being, and we took the corpses back with us to HQ. We took off without Raven, and when I asked about it, Liquid told me that he was _driving _his tank back to the base. It'd probably be several days before he caught up with us. Several hours after we came back, I decided to check on Mantis and his collection. Naomi went with me, as did The Sorrow (he visited us at our new base to wish us well at the new location three months ago, but then he saw we had a library… needless to say, he decided to stick around). What we saw can be basically described by my next exclamation:

"Liiiiquiiiiiid! Mantis is making zombiiieeess!"

"I don't see what you're so upset about," Mantis said casually while The Sorrow glared daggers at him.

_"This is an abomination!" _The Sorrow's sign read angrily.

"Besides that," Mantis added.

"Alright, what is it _now_?" Liquid sighed, walking through the door. I almost felt a little bad right then; Mantis and Ocelot were always calling him over, telling him that the other couldn't be trusted, and the unit was getting along worse than usual. He was the one who had to deal with us all, and we could be quite a handful. But then I remembered one important detail: Mantis was making _zombies! _

"Mantis is trying to bring the goon corpses back to life!" I exclaimed.

_"Not quite. He means to reanimate their bodies by telekinesis," _The Sorrow's sign read.

"Why would you want to do that? And why do you care if he does?" Liquid asked, folding his arms over his chest.

"I don't want zombies running around the base!" I snapped.

Mantis then argued, "I keep telling you, they won't be zombies! I just want to see whether I can manipulate dead bodies the same as living people. Since they technically don't have minds, it'll be harder, but I think I can do it."

"Seems reasonable enough. What's your beef?" Liquid asked, moving on to The Sorrow.

_"My _beef _is that the souls of these men are crying out in abject rage!" _The Sorrow's sign read irately before switching to read, _"There is no abuse, no indignity more abhorrent than this!" _

"Look, I know you're big on dead people's rights, but it's not really a priority for us," Liquid reasoned calmly.

_"You don't have them screaming in your ear twenty-four hours a day," _The Sorrow's sign read as the ghost holding the sign scowled at Liquid.

"What about you?" Liquid asked, turning to Naomi. Naomi just shrugged.

"Ferishteh brought me along for the ride, and I don't really mind," Naomi replied nonchalantly before turning to Mantis with a much more enthusiastic expression. "Alright, let's see it!"

"Okay, stand back. Here we go," Mantis replied. We all stood back, as he asked. The Sorrow said (as in, with his actual mouth) something I couldn't hear before floating out with a sour expression. Mantis's eyes glowed green, and he held his hands out over a corpse he had laid out. Green energy started to build up around the corpse as Mantis concentrated. In several seconds, Mantis got the body to its feet.

"That was fast," Liquid remarked.

"All I did was lift him off the ground. I haven't started the real show yet," Mantis clarified. "Let's try moving an arm…" Mantis concentrated for a little bit, and moved one of his own arms. The corpse's arm followed suit.

"Hey, not bad," Mantis remarked, just a bit of pride in his voice. "Hmm… I'm going to try having him say something."

"I'm thinking baby steps here, Mantis," Naomi said cautiously.

"Are you saying I'm not up to it?" Mantis asked in a biting tone, turning to Naomi with a glowing glare.

"No, I mean literal _baby steps_," Naomi explained, "Speech is an incredibly complex process, physiologically- and that green energy stuff keeps building up every time you concentrate on him. I would stick to basic motor controls-"

"Oh, motor this. Come on, say 'braiiiiins'!" Mantis said, sounding like an enthusiastic kid playing with a new toy as he turned back to the corpse.

"Not funny," I snapped. The corpse made a guttural moaning sound that got louder as the body began to shake uncontrollably; apparently speech _was _too complicated for a corpse. I hid behind Liquid, and Naomi hid behind me. Liquid shot me a look, and all I could do was smile sheepishly. After several seconds more of moaning… the body 'popped'. It exploded into a mess of blood, unknown fluids, and organs. Most of this disgusting stuff got on Mantis and Liquid. Mantis looked relatively unfazed by this, while Liquid was staring at the opposite wall with a traumatized look.

"Huh. Oh well, still got thirty-seven more," Mantis commented non-chalantly.

"… It's a good thing I don't sleep anymore, or I'd have nightmares about this for the rest of my life," I remarked in a deadpan.

"How lucky for you," Liquid replied, obviously scarred for life. I smiled sheepishly once more and gave the arm I was gripping a little squeeze; leadership was definitely putting Liquid through the ringer. Oh well, at least he had me here to soften the impact.


	19. Chapter 19: The Calm

_LAST TIME, I yelled at you guys, FOXHOUND went to Central America, Liquid beat up a fat bastard, said fat bastard's bullet-shield got stolen, the fat bastard was blown up by a tank, Mantis decided to make zombies that blow up when they try to talk, and Liquid was all like ASDF LEADERSHIP. SO WE WEREN'T ON A CLIFFHANGER OR ANYTHING SO HERE WE GO YEAAAAAH. I don't own anything. Seriously, we're almost public domain by this point. _

_**-The Calm-**_

Several days after the Central America mission and the zombie incident, the Genome Soldier Experiments finally entered the stage of human testing. I had vaguely heard about these experiments from Dr. Clarke before her death, but I never really knew what they were. Naomi was kind enough to explain it to me. Apparently the 'soldier genes' harvested from Saladin were being implanted into soldiers in an attempt to create the world's most superior special forces military unit. Among other things, their hearing and sight would be augmented and improved. Most of them would be trained via VR training, having little to no actual field experience. I cringed at that; VR created one thing and one thing only. Idiots.

"You think this is going to work?" I asked Liquid. The two of us were watching the Genome Soldiers doing some target practice, both of us anxious about what would come of these experiments.

"I have absolutely no idea," Liquid replied, "On the one hand, Big Boss's genes are pretty bloody powerful. I mean, I got the _recessive _ones, and you can see how I've turned out. On the other hand, I've had them my whole life. Who knows whether just adding them to someone fully grown will do anything?"

"Besides which, there's plenty of other things besides genetics that affect your abilities," I added, "You had personal instruction from Saladin himself. That's probably worth much more than just his DNA."

"You can't implant a seething hatred of your son of a bitch father, either," Liquid growled, narrowing his eyes. I winced a bit, but said nothing. That was a topic I liked to avoid, even though it wasn't as much of a sore spot as it used to be.

"Anyway, even if they're not a squadron of Saladins, I certainly hope they get _something _out of this," I said, bringing things back on track, "Like the ability to hit the broad side of a barn with a rocket launcher. Seriously, where did we _get _these guys? Storm Troopers 'R' Us?"

Days sluggishly blended into other days, nothing really happening that needed FOXHOUND's attention. It was even worse than those seven months, at least _then _we had missions. The Genome Soldiers' abilities progressed, improving little by little. By "little by little", I mean "at a pace that a snail would call painfully sluggish". There were no words to describe how slow this was going. My frustration was through the roof, as was Naomi's. Actually, hers was probably even worse than mine, since she was in charge of these experiments now that she had taken Dr. Clarke's place.

During this time- and with increasing frequency in the times to come- Liquid, Ocelot, and sometimes Mantis would obsessively plan the revolution we were going to invoke. I didn't know all the details, since I didn't sit in on every meeting, but I did know that we were going to forcibly take over the facility on Shadow Moses Island and that we were doing it in a few months. I only knew _that _little detail because of how often Ocelot and Liquid would plan for it, and how often Ocelot had to leave to negotiate with Sergei Gurlukovich, President Sears, or some other third party I had no clue about.

I wasn't privy to any major developments in this until one day when I was performing basic maintenance on the PSG-1, listening to some music as I was. While I was cleaning the barrel, Mantis walked by. I could hear that he was humming something, but what exactly it was had been muffled by the music. I did smirk a bit; I could tell that there weren't many variations in the tone. And then I saw the small line of Genome Soldiers following him with perfectly blank expressions.

I blinked a few times in surprise before taking off my headphones and asking, "What's that song you're humming?"

Mantis stopped, shrugged, and replied, "Nothing in particular. Why?" I simply pointed to the train of soldiers behind him.

Mantis stared at them for a second before turning to me and commenting, "I should write this down."

"No kidding," I replied, putting my headphones back on and going back to cleaning the barrel. Mantis obsessively experimented with his mind-control melody for the next few days. He even experimented on the normal members of FOXHOUND. I know this because one day I woke up in a puddle of my own blood one morning. Liquid and I gave Mantis the appropriate beating for this. Several days after that, I sat in the next time Ocelot, Liquid and Mantis got to planning, mostly because they were discussing soldiers. God knows I wanted to find out any way we could replace the Genome Soldiers for this revolution.

"Okay, let's talk about my idea for how to get backup for the revolution on the cheap," Ocelot began with a smirk, "Mantis, how long can you maintain brainwashing with that song you discovered?"

"From the few times I've tried it, it looks like I should be able to it going indefinitely," Mantis replied. "But I'd like to experiment with it some more."

"I woke up in a puddle of my own blood two Thursdays ago. I think you've experimented enough," I snapped, shooting Mantis a glare.

"Let's move on," Mantis said quickly, glossing over my comment. I continued to glare.

"It couldn't be simpler," Ocelot continued, "Mantis uses his freakish talents on a bunch of goons. They do whatever we tell them. We sit back and watch. Eh?"

"Uh… You're okay with this?" Liquid asked, turning to Mantis, "Controlling all those minds at once sounds like a lot of work."

"Oh, I wouldn't be manipulating them constantly like puppets," Mantis replied, "I'd just make them think they wanted to work for us."

"Sounds good to me. Nice work you two," Liquid said with a smirk. "So, who's going to be joining our little cult?"

"Well, to best avoid suspicion, we ought to use our own men," Ocelot responded, "Maybe the Genome Soldiers." Liquid and I just stared at Ocelot.

"… You _could _do the whole puppet thing, right?" I asked, turning to Mantis with a semi-desperate look. Liquid talked me down, but I still wasn't happy about the Genome Soldiers' inclusion. Days blended into weeks, planning went along, getting more and more frequent, and the Genome Soldiers continued to train and get injected with things that may or may not help them become better soldiers. The planning didn't go through another major breakthrough for a few weeks, but when it did, _damn _was it a breakthrough.

Liquid and I were planning alone that day. Mantis was off doing his own thing and Ocelot had been summoned by the president once more, so only the two of us were there to plan. Well, it _was _just the two of us until in the middle of some minute detail, Raven had opened the door and knocked on the doorframe. I furrowed my eyebrows just a bit, perplexed by the fact that Raven of all people was interrupting us. Liquid however just nodded Raven over.

"Got a sec?" Raven asked, walking over to Liquid.

"Yeah, what is it?" Liquid asked.

Raven paused for a few seconds, then asked, "How dedicated are you to this whole revolution business?"

Immediately Liquid stood up, glared full-force at Raven and growled back, "The _Hell _kind of question is that?" I recoiled a bit, eyes widening. He was _really _defensive about this… Well, I couldn't blame him. It was his dream, his father's dream, Raven really didn't have any right to criticize that or Liquid's dedication to it.

"Alright, let me rephrase that," Raven clarified, "Are you willing to die to see this through?" Liquid just stared at him, honestly considering the question. I could see it in his eyes, and it flabbergasted me. Liquid had _honestly _never considered that he just might die on this potentially dangerous operation? Liquid was confident, that much I knew without a doubt. But this wasn't confidence, this was cocky _stupidity_. However… This brought a thought to my mind.

Was _I _willing to die for this? I knew I was dedicated, and I knew that I would see this through no matter what it took, but death was death. It was permanent, I'd go to Paradise (or Hell, I had no idea). Was I really prepared to die? I thought over all aspects of that possibility, over the myriad of ways it could possibly happen, over all the possible outcomes and aftereffects of my death. It was staggering, to think over your own mortality in several minutes.

… Yes, I was certain. If that's what it took, I'd push myself to the brink and die for this to go through. It was Liquid's dream, it was Saladin's dream- no, now… now it was my dream too. That didn't mean I'd immediately strap a bomb to my chest and blow myself up suicide bomber style, but you get the point. But I knew I wasn't going lose Liquid. I wouldn't let him die, I nearly lost him once before and it wouldn't happen again.

"Honestly? I hadn't considered that possibility," Liquid finally replied, confirming my previous thoughts, "I mean, all of us know how hard it is to kill me."

"I didn't ask if you thought you _would _die, I asked if you were _willing to _die," Raven said sternly, "Because all of us may not live to see the plan succeed. And I would rather know your answer before committing my own life to your cause." There was a small flicker of fear in Liquid's eyes. It was a tiny, tiny spark, but it was there all the same. He snuffed it out quickly, but I didn't forget it.

Liquid stared at Raven for a few seconds before taking a deep breath and answering, "I'd rather die than fail. Does that satisfy you?"

"For now," Raven replied cryptically, making his way out.

"You're worrying over nothing. Who could possibly come close to causing trouble for us?" Liquid wondered, his smirk returning.

Raven stopped near the door and replied semi-sarcastically, "Gee, I was thinking maybe the guy who stopped your father from doing the exact same thing. _Twice_. But you're right, I'm sure those were just _flukes_." The second Liquid and I figured out who Raven was talking about, we looked at each other with wide eyes. He was right, and that wasn't good. We were going to go up against Solid Snake. Ocelot got back a half-hour after this initial discussion, and immediately we brought this to him, including him in this now.

"You know, I think Raven's right," Ocelot stated, "We're going to have to deal with Solid Snake. The more I think about it, the more it makes sense that they'd send him in. He has experience with this kind of situation from Big Boss's two attempts, the U.S. doesn't have any other independent agent at our level, and they'd be able to get him there quickly since he's already living in Alaska." I looked over at Liquid; his back was to the rest of us, and since I couldn't see his face his thoughts were a mystery to me.

I put a hand on Liquid's shoulder and asked, "Liquid? Are you alright?"

Liquid turned nearly all the way around quickly enough to make me jump, grinning wide like a maniac, and exclaimed, "I'm better than 'alright'! I'm bloody _ecstatic_! I mean- It's like- I can _finally _face Solid Snake on the battlefield! I can _finally _crush him into the dust! I can _FINALLY _make the world just _shut the hell up _about Solid Snake! This is fantastic, bloody fantastic! You can't even begin to imagine how good this is!"

I suppose his enthusiasm should've calmed me down, but instead I just cringed a bit. His confidence was back in full swing, and I didn't know _what _to feel about that. I guess it was a good thing after all, since Liquid could get his revenge and I could finally repay him for killing Saladin (twice), but Solid Snake was still dangerous. That fight would not be an easy one, definitely not. Well, I suppose I had to admire his confidence just a bit. That was the one thing that always impressed me about him, Liquid never _ever _cracked, not even when the odds were stacked high against him.

"Why does it matter that he lives in Alaska?" Raven asked, bringing me back to the situation at hand.

"'Cause that's where the action's going to be, pal," Ocelot replied, looking and sounding smug, "Aren't you proud?"

"What is there in Alaska that the government would care that much about?" Raven questioned further.

"You remember your little field trip to Shadow Moses Island? All I can say is that on that island is quite the government secret," Ocelot replied, getting smugger by the minute. I think he should've twisted his mustache at that point, but instead he just twirled his precious revolver. It'd been a while since I saw him do that, now that I thought about it.

Days blended into weeks, and weeks melted into months like the hues of a watercolor painting someone left out in the rain. Planning was on an automatic setting, since everything was drawing closer and closer and _closer_. I didn't sit in on any more meetings unless I was asked, since I didn't want to get that feeling of anticipation stuck in the pit of my stomach. There weren't any missions at all, not even a small solo one here or there. If you took it from a FOXHOUND standpoint, the world was at peace.

And I enjoyed that 'peace'. I went on lengthy walks with Berthold, actually ventured into the outside world (and bothered to wear civilian clothes when I did so), went to the beach a few times, hung out with Naomi when she wasn't working on the Genome Soldiers or some other project I paid no attention to, or just lay on the roof and watching the clouds go by. It was interesting, to say the least, to finally have time to breathe. I had been working on my relationship with Liquid alongside small missions during the first semi-peaceful time, so I hadn't gotten to properly enjoy the feeling of having 'nothing' to do. And now that I did, I never wanted it to end.

It was during these days of wonderful boredom, in the middle of the night actually, that I was wandering through the halls with Pentazemin and Diazepam in hand. Right when I didn't expect it, I happened upon Liquid's room. And there was light coming from inside. I blinked a few times in surprise; I thought that he was still planning with Ocelot. These meetings normally lasted through the night, so it was odd to see him out of them at this hour. I knocked three times before opening the door.

The first thing I saw was Liquid staring at his computer screen intently. He was obviously reading, but my eyes were more drawn to the fact there were bags under his. He looked even more exhausted than he used to, and I didn't blame him one bit. He was slouched over, his elbows on the desk and his hands steepled in front of his mouth, and his coat slung over the back of his chair. His hair was tied back in a short ponytail, which he only did when his hair was bothering him in some way or if he was intently reading. It seemed like a combination of both in this case.

"Can I come in?" I asked semi-playfully. Liquid glanced over at me and smiled.

"Of course," he replied.

I walked in, closing the door behind me, and as I made my way over I asked, "What're you up to?"

"Well, I was _supposed _to be researching the current geopolitics of modern nuclear weaponry," Liquid replied as I got behind his chair and loosely hugged him from behind, perching my head on top of his. I could only do this when he was slouching like this, and damn did I revel in it. I raised an eyebrow when I saw what was on the screen.

"This is Mick Jagger's Wikipedia article," I commented dryly.

"I got slightly sidetracked," Liquid replied, un-steepling his hands for a second to scroll down the page. "Did you know he studied for a year at the London School of Economics?"

"I can't say that I did," I replied, reading along with him for a few minutes before I continued, "James, you should get some sleep. You look awful."

"I know, and I will… Right after I figure out what those symbols on the cover of _Led Zeppelin IV _mean," Liquid said. I let out a small sigh; that obviously meant that he wasn't getting to sleep any time soon. So, resigned to his decision (and realizing I couldn't hold this position for very long), I pulled up another chair (why Liquid had two when he only needed one always baffled me) next to his, popped a few Diazepam capsules, and sat down next to Liquid.

I leaned my head on his shoulder, then furrowed my eyebrows. He felt relaxed, like he almost always did when we were in contact, but he was also tense behind that. It was obvious; in his own way, for reasons completely different than my own, Liquid was nervous for what was to come. I smiled a bit, glad to know his normal human instincts were working. And, since we were on the same page emotionally, I felt far closer to him.

The raging current of nothing continued on. Although, there was a slight change this time. Ocelot and Liquid had finally planned everything down to the microsecond, which finally gave me time with Liquid to just do whatever. Naomi left for a little bit, said she had to ask Campbell something, which left me slightly worried for her but also convinced she could take care of herself. I even was able to drag the whole unit out drinking one night (I had been a part of a similar outing with the old unit when I was fourteen, and I wanted to recreate it just a bit).

Admittedly, it wasn't a _smart _idea, but I will also admit that on that night I had the most fun I had ever had with the whole unit. I was stuck as the designated driver, but that was alright. Not getting drunk was a small price to pay to watch Mantis forget his principles and try to flirt with women (and men) while the others belted out a surprisingly good rendition of "Don't Stop Believing" by Journey. I joined in on the latter event, which I like to believe saved the performance from falling flat on its ass. The others had awful hangovers the next morning, and I had the honor of explaining to Mantis that he almost scored.

A few weeks afterward, the Genome Soldier Experiment had finished. Apparently they had just _barely _met the requirements for this experiment to be called successful. Now, Liquid had to properly induct the soldiers into FOXHOUND as reserve operatives and test their mental capabilities. This was going to be 'fun'. The Genome Soldiers were all grouped in the secondary briefing room (far larger than the main one), and at the head of the room there was a podium with the FOXHOUND emblem on it. Liquid stood behind that while the rest of us leaned against the left wall.

"This is going to be a disaster," I muttered.

"Hey, they passed through the experiment, it might not be that bad," Octopus commented. I just gave him a look.

Liquid cleared his throat to get everyone's attention, then began, "Congratulations on completing the Genome Soldier gene therapy treatment… thing. You are now among the most elite of modern soldiers. However! Your conditioning is not over. The Next Generation Special Forces are affiliated with FOXHOUND, and we hold to a higher standard of excellence! It's not enough to be physically superior. You must be able to think as well as you can fight." For some reason or another, Octopus snickered. I responded appropriately by elbowing him in the ribs.

Liquid then continued, "Consider a hypothetical mission in which your unit is defending a base against a single enemy infiltrator. While on patrol, you find a fellow member of your unit unconscious. What do you do?" Immediately one of the soldiers' hands shot up.

"Yes, private?" Liquid asked.

"Wake him up!" the private replied enthusiastically.

"As soon as you get him on his feet he mysteriously collapses again," Liquid said, narrowing his eyes just a bit.

"Wake him up again!" another soldier called.

"The exact same thing happens as the last time you woke him up," Liquid stated in an aggravated deadpan.

"Wake him up again!"

"No matter how many times you wake him up he just falls unconscious again! There are a bunch of tranquilizer darts sticking out of his neck."

"Ooh! Ooh, I've got it sir!"

"Yes?"

"Wake him up again?" Liquid's left eye twitched out of control and he sputtered something unintelligible. He was speaking in what we liked to call 'angrish'. I was nearing that point as well; these guys were _idiots_! Liquid took a deep breath, no doubt assuring himself that they couldn't be much worse than this.

"Let's move on," Liquid sighed before walking over to a nearby chalkboard with a basic layout of some nondescript area on it. "This is the layout of an area you have to guard. I want one of you to show me the best path for a patrol to take." One of the soldiers got up and walked up to the board, looked at it for a few seconds, then picked up a piece of red chalk and drew a series of arrows that made a path around a smaller, square 'building'. He then turned to Liquid with an expectant look.

Liquid stared at him for a second before narrowing his eyes and saying, "Not _quite_, no. Anyone else think they can do better?" Another soldier got up, picked up a blue piece of chalk, erased the previous path, then drew a new one detailing a back and forth path along an alleyway of sorts between the two small buildings and one longer one.

"No," Liquid snapped. A third came up, erased that path, then drew one in yellow out in the open that was basically just walking in circles counter clockwise.

"_No_!" Liquid exclaimed, eye twitching again. I face-palmed, and a fourth soldier went up. He erased the previous path, then just drew an 'X' in purple on the very edge of it.

Liquid glared daggers at this newest soldier, then hissed, "Explain. Now."

"See, the problem with all those is they're way too predictable," the fourth soldier began.

"Okay, good, that is true…" Liquid commented, starting to calm down a bit.

"So I'd just be standin' in one place, but movin' around all randomlike so no one could tell where I'd be lookin' next!" the soldier chirped. "Kinda like this-" And then he proceeded to do the robot. I couldn't stop myself from letting out a curse in Kurdish and turning around to hit my head on the wall over and over.

"Alright, for future reference, everyone? Doing the robot is _not _an effective surveillance method!" Liquid snapped. I didn't stick around for the rest of this. I knew all I needed to know about these guys. I seriously hoped to God that Solid Snake killed every last one of those idiots. Several days went by, and Shadow Moses was upon us. We were being sent to guard the facility during the test of Metal Gear REX, the newest model of Metal Gear that the government was keeping on the down low. To say the least, I was a little nervous that everything was finally coming together after weeks and months of planning. Everyone else was getting ready to leave, and I decided I needed to talk to Naomi about this, and I found her on a balcony watching the Genome Soldiers load up and get ready to go outside the base.

"Hey," I said casually, PSG-1 slung over my shoulders and Berthold by my side, standing beside Naomi and smiling at her. She was leaning on the rail, dark hair blowing about in the wind and framing her troubled face. She looked over at me and attempted to smile.

"Hey," she replied, looking back out at the Genome Soldiers, "… You know, it's weird, but I feel sort of responsible for them now. I mean, in a sense, I created them as they are now. So their success or failure reflects on me. I thought this project was laughable from the beginning, but now I'm totally invested in its outcome."

I could tell there was something else going on in the back of her mind, something else bothering her, but I wasn't going to pry. If it was something I had to concern myself with, she'd tell me. I smiled a comforting, almost maternal smile, and put an arm around Naomi's shoulders in a half-hug. It reminded me of when she was just a kid, and how I had to hug her for a whole hour after she burst out crying seeing me kill an animal. She was so grown up now… My God, I sounded like her mother.

"Don't worry, Naomi. You're a great scientist, I just know this'll turn out fine. I've always had faith in you, and I can't tell you how proud of you I am even now. You're going to be fine, you and the Genome Soldiers," I murmured, rubbing her shoulder in another comforting gesture. Naomi smiled back at me, and at that moment Berthold took the opportunity to walk up on Naomi's other side, looking up at her expectantly. Naomi semi-unconsciously reached down and scratched behind his ears, Berthold giving a contented sigh when she did.

Liquid walked out onto the balcony right then and asked, "Now what's going on up here?"

"Naomi just has cold feet about the Genome Soldiers," I replied with a grin. She shot me a look, and all I could do was laugh a little.

"Well, if even one of them can last a week without chocking on their own tongue, she deserves the Nobel Prize," Liquid remarked, folding his arms behind his head. I let out a little chuckle and Naomi shot him the look.

"That's very reassuring, thank you," Naomi said dryly.

Liquid was about to respond when Ocelot yelled from the ground, "Yo, Boss!"

"What?" Liquid called back down, leaning over the rail of the balcony.

"Special delivery just got here!" Ocelot shouted back up, pointing over in the direction of said 'special delivery'. Liquid, Naomi and I all looked over there, my eyes widening when I saw what it was. Apparently FOXHOUND was now in possession of a Hind D Russian helicopter. Liquid stared at it wide eyed for a few seconds longer before a gigantic grin cut its way onto his face. Liquid let out a loud whoop of happiness and leapt off the balcony, landing on his feet and dashing over there with an enthusiasm I hadn't seen before. I chuckled sheepishly and Naomi gave me another look, though this one was a little happier.

"Quite a catch you've got there," Naomi remarked sarcastically, standing up straight now and looking me in the eye with a raised eyebrow.

"Hey now," I laughed, putting the hand that had been around her shoulders on my hip, "I don't criticize your taste in men."

Then I jumped a bit and face-palmed, saying as I did, "Ugh, that's right! Berthold and I are driving with Octopus and Mantis to Shadow Moses, I gotta get down there quickly. Seeya Naomi!" I turned to leave, but right as I began to walk I felt something hit my hand. I glanced over my shoulder; Naomi was still looking out over the balcony… I turned around and kept walking, my eyebrows furrowed. I looked at my hand; there was a crumpled up piece of paper in it. A note…? I could read it later, maybe on the drive to Shadow Moses. I made it down there to the car (walking past Raven setting off in the tank) and was about to climb in, but suddenly Berthold jumped up on my seat.

"What are you doing, Bertie- OOF!" I was interrupted by Berthold jumping from my seat and into me, knocking me out of the car. I was about to question him further, but then he ran back toward the base. I blinked a few times in surprise before running off after him, shouting in Kurdish for him to get back here. I could tell plenty of people were staring at me, which only made this worse. I chased Berthold into the base and up the stairs, wondering all the while what he was trying to do. I opened the door to the roof to see Berthold sitting by the edge, panting and wagging his tail. The Hind D was idling right next to him.

I walked over, but when I got close Liquid jumped out of the cockpit and ran to meet me halfway, taking both of my hands in his. Berthold got on his feet right then, wagging his tail double time. I looked from Berthold to Liquid and back, confused as all hell.

"Liquid… What is this?" I asked.

"I know I should probably wait until Shadow Moses succeeds and stuff but I just can't," Liquid began, looking nervous and happy at the same time. Once again I felt something hit my left hand. I turned my hand over, but this time instead of furrowing my eyebrows, they shot straight up and my eyes widened. Sitting in my palm was a ring. It was gold with Celtic knots around the whole ring, two smallish white gems on either side of a larger, bright green one in the center. Allah… It was beautiful, absolutely beautiful.

I looked up at Liquid, completely shocked, and sputtered, "J-James, I-I-"

"Ferishteh, before you say anything, I want to tell you something," Liquid interrupted, "I love you more than anything else. I mean, when Raven brought up the fact that some of us might die before the plan succeeds, I was only thinking that I couldn't lose you. When I tried to regain my memories, I almost didn't because I was afraid you wouldn't like who I became. It's almost pathetic, really, but it's true. And I know that being together like this is distracting enough, and that getting married would only make it worse, but I just don't care. So, Ferishteh Rekani… will you marry me?"

For several seconds, I stared at him, my mind blank. Well, that wasn't entirely true. In fact it was a huge lie, there were several thousand thoughts buzzing around my head, trying to tell me to do it, not to do it, or eat a sandwich. It was that crazy in there.

I mean, it was all so sudden-

We were about to go to Shadow Moses-

It had only been seven months-

But then again it had also been several years-

What would my mother say-

Or Saladin-

Or Rat-

Or Ganju-

Or Naomi-

_Agh! _

I refrained from shaking my head, but I would've, since I had to clear out all the cluttering thoughts. Without warning, I wrapped my arms forcefully around Liquid's neck and pulled him down to my level, kissing him hard on the lips. I held the kiss for several seconds before breaking back and smiling wider than I had ever smiled before.

"Yes, yes, _of course _I'll marry you, James!" I exclaimed, wrapping my arms tightly around him. Liquid embraced me back even tighter, possibly even happier than I was that I had agreed. But I'm not sure that that was possible, since I felt happier than I ever had. Nothing could've ever compared to this, not the feeling of going back home to the ruins, not the feeling of finally admitting to myself that I was in love with Liquid, nothing in the world.

We figured afterwards that when Shadow Moses was said and done we'd get married in the smallest of small ceremonies (neither of us wanted some huge spectacle), and Ocelot took my place in the car so Berthold and I could ride with Liquid in the Hind D to Alaska. We also promised to keep it between the unit, and for that such reason I wore my ring underneath my glove. It wasn't the most comfortable thing in the world, but I could manage. I stared out the window the entire way, in something of a daze. I should've been a ball of panic and fear, but I was far too happy to be nervous.


	20. Chapter 20: Return to Shadow Moses

_LAST TIME, there was a lot of filler, Mantis made up his mind-control song, we figured out that Snake just might be a part of this, there was fluff, Naomi gave Wolf a note, Liquid proposed to Wolf and she was all like OMG YES. SO WE'RE BACK TO SHADOW MOSES AND WE WEREN'T ON A CLIFFHANGER SO LET'S GO YEAAAAAAAAAAAAH! I don't own anything, I don't even need to elaborate on how much I don't own. Let's fly._

_**-Return to Shadow Moses-**_

Getting to Shadow Moses from California doesn't take nearly as long as it would seem to. Well, then again, I don't recall Berthold ever sleeping, and I'm pretty sure that Liquid broke several helicopter speed limits- if such things existed- so I'm probably long. And I was hyped up on the endorphins of getting engaged, so I wasn't paying attention to my surroundings. However, when we landed in Shadow Moses, it was rather surreal to be back there again. Even though I had only been on the island for a few hours, being out of your element wasn't something you ever really forgot. And _damn _was it _cold_! I didn't have a jacket, much to my chagrin.

Soon after everyone else arrived, Liquid and I took the liberty of going into Metal Gear REX's hangar so we could see the behemoth for ourselves. And my _God _was it a _monster_. The thing was twelve meters tall, towering above us with an enormous rail gun on one 'shoulder' and a huge radome on the other. The edges of the cockpit had a ridging to them that made it look like the machine had teeth and was going to eat us the minute it 'woke up'. To say the very least, it made me vaguely uneasy. Liquid and I stared up at it with wide eyes.

"… It's big," Liquid remarked.

"Uh-huh," I 'replied'.

Liquid paused for a bit before asking, "You don't suppose this one is capable of killing one guy on foot armed with a Stinger?"

"Now where would the fun be in that?" I remarked as the president of ArmsTech (one of the companies responsible for this monster), Kenneth Baker, walked up to butt in on the conversation. Baker was a stout, bald man whose entire appearance and demeanor just screamed 'corrupt corporate executive'. Even being in the same room as the man was unpleasant.

"So long as the pilot knows what he's _doing_, I'd say it could," Baker interjected.

Liquid shot the man a pointed glare, immediately making Baker regret his statement. "Mr. Baker, are you implying that my father was incompetent?"

Immediately Baker sputtered, "Huh? Oh- Uh… Well, that is to say, I don't know if I'd put it-"

Liquid cracked a grin, patted Baker roughly on the shoulder, and remarked in his best subtly intimidating voice, "Relax, Mr. Baker. You and I are going to get along _just _fine." Baker let out an uncomfortable chuckle before clearing out of there even faster than Rat would've. I let out a little laugh and lightly punched Liquid on the shoulder.

"It's generally not a good idea to menace corrupt corporate executives," I remarked.

"It is when you could snap his neck like a twig," Liquid replied. I rolled my eyes and punched him again before wrapping my arms around my upper torso (accidentally hugging the PSG-1 in the process). It was _cold_! I briefly thought to Mantis and Octopus, currently on the complete other side of the facility. They were looking over a small army contingent already there, and I seriously hoped they were far more competent than our Genome Soldiers. However, this just made me think of the fact that both Mantis and Octopus had really nice trench coats that must be really _really _warm right now… I had already thought of asking Liquid for his, but then I realized that would leave him in an even worse position than mine and thought better of it.

Right then, Baker returned with an older (taller) man in a blue suit on his heels. I didn't want to make any more observations on this man or his appearance, since his existence alone was enough to make me uneasy. This man and Baker combined made me want to bolt out of there as quickly as I possibly could, but I knew by now that it was already far too late.

"Liquid, I'm sure you know the secretary of defense," Baker stated as Liquid and this man walked up to one another, shaking hands.

"As a matter of fact, I haven't yet had the pleasure of meeting our new FOXHOUND C.O. face to face," the secretary of defense remarked. "Jim Houseman."

"You're here to observe the test as well, sir?" Liquid inquired. I certainly hoped not.

"Oh no, I'm heading back to the Pentagon," Houseman replied, "But I'll be keeping an eye on the results. Watching from a safe distance, you might say." Liquid's eyes narrowed just a fraction, and he shot me something of a look. We both knew something was up with this guy.

Houseman continued, "But my friend Donald Anderson from DARPA will be here to observe the test soon. I'm sure everything will work out the way we want it to."

"Indeed," Liquid remarked cryptically before Baker and Houseman left to do sketchy things. Liquid and I decided to use this opportunity to leave the room, and right when we got into the hallway I gave Liquid a look.

"Okay… What was _that _about?" I demanded, glancing back over my shoulder.

"Obviously that one we just talked to is a pawn for the L- for them," Liquid replied, "I don't see how anyone _wouldn't _be able to figure that out."

I rubbed my temples with the hand not holding my gun and walked ahead of Liquid, saying as I did, "Ugh, conspiracies, cold weather and Sniper Wolf just don't _work _together! This just isn't the right day for thi-" Right as I was in the middle of the word 'this', the floor opened up beneath me. I let out a yelp as I fell into the blackness, but my reflexes kicked in and I was able to stop falling by putting the PSG-1 over the hole just right. I hung onto the rifle for dear life, eyes wide as I looked down.

"… I found a trapdoor," I called up, my voice nervous and strained. Immediately Liquid grabbed the PSG-1 and hoisted me out of the hole; right as I got on my feet again I clung to Liquid and stared fearfully at the hole.

Liquid frowned, then called to a nearby soldier, "Private!" Immediately the soldier ran up; I could recognize that he wasn't one of ours via the fact that I had never seen him before.

"Yes, sir?" the private replied as I detached myself from Liquid, crouched down and looked down the hole.

"Explain to me what the _Hell _a trapdoor is doing in the middle of the hallway?" Liquid demanded angrily, pointing at the trapdoor for emphasis. I don't think Liquid needed to explain that I nearly fell to my death down one of those, I think it was pretty obvious by his tone.

"Aw shi- I thought someone would've told you by now," the soldier remarked, semi-facepalming.

"Told me _what_?"

"There are a bunch of trapdoors like that all over the base," the soldier explained. Both Liquid and I stared at him for a few seconds as Octopus, a soldier with a 'J' on his balaclava, and a female, mask-less soldier with short red hair walked up.

"What's going on here?" Octopus asked as the private noticed one of the soldiers (which one, I couldn't quite tell).

"Sasaki, why didn't you tell them about the trapdoors?" the private demanded, turning to the one with the 'J' on his mask.

'Sasaki' quirked an eyebrow and wondered, "Huh? They didn't already know?"

"Trapdoors? To _where_? This place is built into the side of a mountain!" Octopus pointed out incredulously.

"I couldn't see the bottom when I fell in, but I think I heard running water down there," I remarked.

"Why… why, why, _why _do we have trapdoors in our base?" Liquid demanded glaring at Sasaki and the private.

"Hey, _we _didn't build the place!" the private snapped.

"But you know where all the traps are?" Octopus asked.

"We think so, anyway," Sasaki replied. "There's a map in the break room. Sorry, we're all just used to it by now."

"I never heard about this either," the red-haired girl commented, but she was thoroughly ignored.

"You _think _you know where all of them are? You don't have the full blueprints?" Octopus questioned further.

"We don't have any blueprints," Sasaki replied.

"Then how did you-" Liquid cut himself off, because he realized the answer before he finished his question. "… Oh."

"Yeah, there used to be a lot more of us here," the private sighed. I took this moment to stand up and dust myself off. Immediately the eyes of the private and Sasaki flocked to my chest. I rolled my eyes, and the redhead shot Octopus a glare.

"She's dressed like that, and you're going to yell at me about my _hair_?" she asked in a biting tone.

I glared at her in turn and shot back, "Being higher ranked has its advantages."

"So does being engaged to the bo-" Octopus began before I jabbed him in the eye with the barrel of the PSG-1. I then wrapped my arms around my upper torso again and let out a 'brrr' noise. It. Was. COLD! Right then, Raven walked up with the jacket I wore last time we were here in hand.

"If you're that bothered by the temperature, put this on," Raven said. I grinned wide, snatched the jacket from his hands and put it on as quickly as I possibly could.

"White looks good on you," Liquid remarked with a playful grin. I rolled my eyes again and tried not to elbow Liquid in the side.

Liquid then turned to Sasaki and asked, "So, Sasaki, any more deathtraps lying around we should be aware of?"

"None I can think of off the top of my head… Oh. Wait. There is that one electrified floor," Sasaki replied.

"Elec-that _slipped your mind_?" Liquid exclaimed, rightfully dumbfounded by that.

"We usually keep it turned off," Sasaki added, "Except when we want to keep that annoying programmer guy stuck in his room. Ooh, but you do want to avoid tripping the infrared lasers in the armory."

"It'll set off the alarms?" I asked.

"And a toxic gas will be pumped in through the vents," Sasaki added.

"Oh, well of course. Toxic gas goes without saying," Liquid deadpanned.

"You know, come to think of it- the hallway with the electrified floor's got the gas pumps too," Sasaki remarked, and immediately Liquid face palmed. "But the way I heard it, all this stuff was only added a few years ago. Some nut job managed to get all the way into the highest security labs on his own. The higher-ups didn't like the idea of single enemy agents being able to infiltrate the base so easily. So, traps all over."

Liquid glossed over Sasaki's definition of him as a 'nut job' and let out a sigh before saying, "Well… Okay, fine, but how often are you going to have to deal with one man… infiltrating… Have we got any anti-personnel mines?"

"Tons of 'em in the armory."

"I want all the outdoor areas covered in them by the end of the day."

I left Liquid to his warranted paranoia, instead deciding to do some exploration and spend time with Berthold at the same time. I had to admit, even though it was cold and definitely not the desert, the snowy landscape had its own special kind of beauty to it. However, that wasn't my main priority out here, because as soon as we were about to round a corner out into the snowfield, I nearly tripped from how quickly I stopped in surprise. There was a large, fenced off area right against the building, and within the fence were five huskies. They all looked to be female, and they noticed me immediately, their tails wagging vigorously at the sight of a human and a fellow canine.

Without pausing for a second I opened the gate and went inside, Berthold right beside me. The dogs flocked to us, some of them sniffing Berthold while others were more occupied with me. I let them smell me and petted them with a huge smile on my face. They were beautiful dogs, and they all looked healthy. Whoever was bothering to take care of them here must've been doing a very good job.

"Oh, you all are just so pretty~! Who's a pretty girl, whooo's a pretty giiirl," I crooned, scratching the belly of one of the dogs. Right then, I heard howling coming from the woods; I turned that way to see several grey dogs (wolves?) coming from the trees and heading this way. They had wolves out here too? However, that hypothesis was proven wrong when the 'wolves' reached us. They weren't wolves, but wolf dogs. And, judging from the look of them, these dogs were their mothers. Wait. Berthold smelled female the last time we were here. These were wolf dogs. They looked like the dogs and like Berthold…

I beamed wider than I thought I ever could and let out a small "Eeeeeeeee~" before moving on to petting the wolf dogs. A few days passed, and within that time the DARPA chief arrived. That wasn't really that important, though the day after he arrived Liquid gave a speech to the soldiers on base. It was basically just a front so Mantis could see if they were mind-washable. While Liquid was testing some of the basic functions of Metal Gear REX, the rest of us looked over what Mantis had gathered from this.

"I checked all the goons stationed here, and double-checked the ones we brought with us," Mantis began. He was holding a clipboard with the names of everyone he could brainwash on it.

"All clean?" I asked.

"All eminently brain-washable," Mantis replied.

I cracked a smirk and said, "Good, then we should have no trouble taking control of the base."

"Controlling the base isn't our problem," Ocelot cut in. "Are Anderson and Baker on this list?"

"No, but from the way they reacted during the speech I'd say they've got insulation," Mantis answered.

"You don't think we can overpower a brittle old man and a pencil neck?" I questioned in a biting tone.

"Like I said, getting control of the _base_ isn't our problem," Ocelot shot back. "Getting control of _Metal Gear _is the problem. Those two have the access codes to activate REX. Without them, we're completely screwed."

"Well, I can't read their minds," Mantis said, "So I assume you want to torture it out of them?"

"Torture is such an _inelegant _word," Ocelot remarked, putting a hand on Mantis's shoulder as he cracked a grin, "I'm an artist. Their-"

"Stop right there. I'd like to eat some time soon," I snapped, closing my eyes and rubbing my temples. Right then Ocelot's cell phone began to ring, playing a song in Russian that made Mantis look at him funny.

"What in the Hell…"

"It's Gurlukovich," Ocelot snapped, glaring at Mantis as he got his cell phone out and answered it. I wasn't able to hear what was happening on the other end, but I was able to hear Ocelot. That didn't help, since he was speaking in Russian. I decided that there really wasn't anything else I was needed for, so I left the room. After wandering around the interior of the base for a few minutes I threw on my jacket and went back outside, finding Berthold along the way. We made it to the snowfield again, and when that happened we were swarmed by the wolf dogs. Berthold seemed less than pleased to see his offspring, but I was delighted to see them again.

Immediately I got down to their level, scratching them and trilling, "Ooh, how are my babies~? Did you miss me? Who wants a belly rubbing? Aren't you the cutest~? Yes you are~! Yes you aaare~!" I knew I sounded stupid, but hey, I'd sound even stupider if I talked to them normally. The wolf-dogs wagged their tails so fast I could barely see them, some of them licked me, and Berthold stood by looking nonplussed for a little bit before he seemed to mentally 'shrug' and join in for some petting. I smiled warmly and couldn't help but let out an 'aww' as I scratched him behind the ear.

"I've finally come to terms with the fact you'll never give me that much positive attention." I looked up to see Liquid standing about a foot away. He was being smart, for once, and had his coat buttoned up so he wouldn't freeze to death. I went back to smiling.

"Oh come on, you don't need this much attention," I commented.

"My inferiority complex begs to differ," my fiancée replied, walking around to kneel beside me.

"So, the testing is over?" I asked, turning my eyes back to the wolf dogs and Berthold.

"This day of it. All we've been doing is testing the interface and mobility controls," Liquid grumbled. "I swear, Dr. Emmerich's voice can get really _really _annoying when it's constantly telling you what to do."

"You've got to accept that though this tests are tedious they're necessary," I said in a calming tone.

"I know, I know, but _still_," Liquid griped. I shot him a half-glare.

"I am _making _you work on this patience problem of yours at some point," I snapped. "Well, soon enough I _will _be your wife, so I'll get clearance to boss you around."

"That may be true, but I will still be your C.O. Which one has higher authority?" Liquid wondered with a grin. I raised an eyebrow, and Liquid let out a sigh, his grin falling.

"Yeah, you'll have more authority," Liquid muttered. And right then, one of the wolf dogs broke away from the pack to roam over to Liquid, sniffing him experimentally. Liquid tensed up a bit, and for good reason; dogs didn't like him, and were always quick to bite him. However, this one licked him right after it finished sniffing him. Immediately I smiled wider than before.

"Aww, he likes you~!" I chirped. Liquid shot me a look this time.

"Licking does not equal affection. Maybe it just thinks I'm delicious," Liquid shot back. I had to stifle a laugh. The next day, I went for a walk on my own. I decided that maybe Berthold needed some time to commune with his offspring. However, my walk turned quite interesting when I came across two Genome soldiers doing some target practice in front of the tank hangars. I decided to hang around for a little bit, maybe give them some pointers. One of the soldiers was on the ground with rifle, right below the overhang , and the other was on the roof. The soldier on the roof set up an object I couldn't quite define (I wasn't trying) on the edge of the overhang.

"Uh, are you sure you want to do that? That's a _really _difficult shot," I remarked nervously. I didn't want anyone to get their heads blown off here.

"Don't worry ma'am, I can handle this," the one on the ground (I think his last name was Smith…) replied with a smirk. I bit my lower lip nervously, and Smith angled his rifle just right… He pulled the trigger and hit the object- I could tell now it was a can- straight on. My eyes nearly bugged out of my skull; a shot like that would've been pretty damn hard even for _me_! Immediately I ran inside and dragged Liquid out there to show him.

"What are you on about?" Liquid asked as I dragged him out the door.

"You know how Octopus said the Genome soldiers were getting better this morning? He wasn't kidding, you have to see this!" I replied. "Guys, show him what you showed me."

"Alright. Set it up, Jim," Smith called to the roof soldier (who I now knew was Jim). Jim set the can up again, and Smith repeated that shot perfectly. Liquid's eyes widened a little bit, but I could tell he wasn't quite convinced just yet.

"Not bad," Liquid remarked.

"I make it look easy, but that's an above average shot," I stated, "And considering what we started with…"

"Look, I want to believe this, but it's going to take more than a couple of tricks to convince me," Liquid said. "Shooting stationary objects is a good start, but I need _soldiers_."

I narrowed my eyes, crossed my arms over my chest, then asked, "So why not try your training course again?" Liquid followed my advice, and the Genome soldiers passed with flying colors. We called Naomi up on the situation and had her send over everything we needed to test the Genome soldiers to see if the gene therapy was indeed working. Octopus had to run the tests, since none of us knew anything about chemistry or human genetics. We discussed this with Ocelot and Mantis later that day in the office Liquid had commandeered for his own purposes.

"Okay, so we'll still have to use mind control to get them on our side, but we're still in a much better position now that we have some competent goons," Liquid stated. "In the end, we might not need those Russian mercenaries for backup."

"After all that time I spent sweet-talking Gurlukovich? Hell no, we're still using them," Ocelot snapped.

"I like this office a lot," Mantis remarked.

Liquid glared at him and snapped, "Don't you _dare _try to mind-control me out of this office."

"I wouldn't do that," Mantis lied in a fake-innocent voice.

I narrowed my eyes, smirked, and said, "Well, just to drive you off it's scent, Liquid and I had sex on the desk." Mantis gagged, obviously disgusted, and Ocelot just gave me a weird look while Liquid glared at me for divulging that information. I kept my smirk; it was always fun to mess with Mantis. Octopus walked through the door right then.

"Uh, Boss?" Octopus 'said' as he walked in.

"Octopus! Did you finish the experiment?" Liquid asked.

Octopus paused for about a minute before he said, "It didn't work. The gene therapy didn't work." We all stared at him in shock.

"If the gene therapy didn't work, then what happened? They all just… spontaneously got a clue at the same time?" I asked.

"Naomi was trying to get all the right bits of Big Boss's DNA into the soldiers' genomes," Octopus began. "That part of it worked. Their cells have been expressing the 'soldier genes', whatever the hell that means, for a few months now."

"What? Then why'd you say it didn't work?" Liquid questioned further.

"Because the changes are starting to reverse themselves," Octopus answered. "The alterations to their genomes are unstable. The genes that were added are getting excised."

"So they're going to change back," Ocelot said, simplifying it some.

"Worse," Octopus continued, "Chunks of _their _DNA are being cut out along with Big Boss's genes. I'm talking _huge _chromosomal deletions. I'm not exactly an expert, but I imagine they'll all be dead of cancer or organ failure within months." My eyes were stuck being wide; oh come _on_, they had _just _started being competent!

"… I won't let it happen," Liquid declared, standing up behind his desk. "We're going to fix them."

"What? How? If Naomi couldn't get it to work-"

"I don't know, but we'll find a way," Liquid replied. "And I have a feeling that the key lies in my father's remains. It's one of the most highly guarded secrets in the Pentagon's research program, so the only way we'll get it is if we put it on our list of demands." I looked down; there were ten days until the revolution, and things were starting to heat up already.


	21. Chapter 21: Revolution

_LAST TIME, Liquid intimidated Baker, Jim Houseman was a creepy mofo, Wolf fell into a trapdoor (AND LIVED!), Liquid was rightfully paranoid, Wolf fangirled over some dogs/wolf dogs, there was some talkin' about things that won't be important yet, Liquid and Wolf fluffed around all fluffy like (FLUFFFFFF), the Genome soldiers were all awesome then not awesome, and Liquid was all like WE'RE GONNA SAVE THEM GODDAMMIT. SO WE'RE SKIPPING THROUGH A PERIOD OF TEN DAYS IN THIS CHAPTER REALLY REALLY FAST-LIKE AND ALL THAT JAZZ YEEEEAAAAAAAAHHHH-*shot* Alright, I don't own shit, let's go. By the way, don't put any coffee on or anything. This is going to be the absolute _shortest _chapter of all time, since I wanted to end this on a dramatic note. DRAMAAAAAAA-*shot again* _

_**-Revolution-**_

Four days went by out here, four days of nothing. Well, I didn't really do much since my role was rather minimal at this stage. Liquid and the higher-ups tested out the basic functions on Metal Gear REX, Ocelot was probably running about doing what he did best (which was stabbing people in the back), and Octopus looked over any possible way to save the Genome soldiers without Saladin's remains. Me, I was just left to watching them and spending time with the canines. It got a little infuriating at times, but I knew it would all be worth it. This was nothing like the days I had waiting before this point, these days were almost electrically charged with a thick fog of anticipation and fear for the events to come.

And, with six days left, it came time to test the rail gun. This was the one test I decided to watch, since I _knew _things would get interesting from here on in. … However, since REX would be outside for the test, I decided it wouldn't hurt to watch from as far away as I possibly could. I sat on a hill several miles away from where they had parked REX, right on the edge of the forest. Berthold and some of the wolf dogs were lying around me, Berthold's head in my lap. I absently scratched his ears as I stared out at the gigantic metal behemoth. Even from this far away, I could tell that it was _huge_. The thing intimidated me, but more importantly it _frightened _me. The unbridled destructive power of a machine that size- along with the nuclear launch capabilities it possessed- was far more akin to some sort of beast instead of an artificial creature piloted by one man.

Right as I was going to do some more thinking about Metal Gear REX, my Codec began to chirp in my ear. I answered it normal as anything; I knew the frequency.

"Shouldn't you be more focused on Metal Gear right now?" I asked. Liquid's image on the Codec 'monitor' smirked.

"Well, the guy who made this beast needs to run seven thousand different diagnostics on the damn thing, so I'm stuck on the ground waiting for that to happen," Liquid replied, "And you know how easily I get bored."

"Right. Don't you usually occupy your time when you're doing this by bugging Ocelot?" I wondered, not out of annoyance but just random curiosity.

"Indeed, but he's dealing with the president over the launch data," Liquid answered, "That seems to be what all these big-shots are after."

"I'd ask why, but I don't think I care about the answer," I noted. Liquid had to sign off right then, since it was apparently nearly time for the launch to actually start. I tensed up, which woke up Berthold. He gave me a puzzled look, and I gave him a half-hearted smile. That satisfied him for the time being, and he put his head back down on my lap. I scratched his ears, trying to distract myself from my misgivings over Metal Gear. I could hear the rail gun whirr to life from here. They'd be shooting a dummy warhead for the test, but if the government didn't agree to our demands we'd be shooting a real one.

I looked over at the rail gun- still whirring as it prepared for launch- with an apprehensive look. I hoped we never had to fire that thing. I took a small moment to think of how much things had changed. I started a frail little Kurdish girl running around the desert with no family and a death wish, and now as a female sniper I've ended up a revolutionary (that the world will without a doubt call a terrorist) in the snow. Though I knew I couldn't guarantee whether I'd live through this mission, I seriously hoped I would. I didn't want to die in this kind of environment; I'd rather die back in my home, in the desert.

And then the whirring stopped. I could see a piece of metal break off the rail gun, and all was silent. I just blinked a few times in surprise before frowning. I had done all that thinking about my life and my future just for the rail gun to _break_. What a freaking _rip-off_.

After making some adjustments, they tested it again the next day. It broke down the exact same way it did the day before. The day after that, I could see something catch on fire when they retried the test a third time. More adjustments were made, and on the fourth try I could tell there some electronic disturbances. On the fifth try, it just plain failed the same as it did on the first test. This was going _nowhere. _

Apparently they actually _did _make progress on the fifth day, but I wasn't there to see it. We decided to proceed with the brainwashing as planned, and Octopus and I had the esteemed duty of planting our ideology in the minds of the soldiers while Mantis just floated in the air and hummed real loud. Lucky bastard. Octopus and I stood near the very edge of the mess hall, trying to stay inconspicuous until the time came. So far, it was working.

"Shouldn't we wait until Metal Gear actually _works _before we start all this?" I wondered, looking over at Octopus.

"Ocelot and Liquid say stick to the plan. Even if it's still busted, we can bluff," Octopus replied with a small shrug.

I looked over my shoulder and questioned further, "Where is Ocelot, anyway? I haven't seen him since yesterday."

"Drove off somewhere on a 'special' mission," Octopus answered. Right as his sentence finished, that mind-control melody began to play, cutting through all other sound. Immediately all the mooks stopped talking, their faces going blank. Mantis was spreading the mind-control far too thin for it to reach us, thankfully.

"Oop- Looks like Mantis is off and running," I remarked, "Ready to start?"

"We really need to talk to Liquid about this material," Octopus grumbled before asking in a rehearsed manner, "Hey Wolf, you know what sucks?"

"No, Octopus, what sucks?"

"The American system of Representative Democracy!" We continued on like that for several minutes, getting all the points drilled in as the goons were powerless to fight against it. It almost didn't seem fair, but then again it probably wasn't. When everything had successfully gone through, Mantis stopped the music. The goons went along like everything was normal. I knew it had worked, since I had seen it with my own eyes, but seeing them like this so soon after… it was kind of creepy.

Right after that, Liquid called me enthusiastically over Codec. Apparently they _finally _figured out what the problem was. Apparently someone had messed with the interface, dropping in chunks of code that made the rail gun unable to shoot damn near anything. Liquid told me that it was most likely Ghost Turtle, since he hadn't been too keen on the fact they were developing a Metal Gear in this place. Yeah, that sounded like him. They got the main engineer to fix the interface, reconfiguring it to shoot the missile defense projectiles (yeah, the engineer had convinced himself that REX was a missile defense system. Denial didn't even cover it) it was supposedly equipped with.

I was able to get onto the roof for the test; I reached the right place right as they fired the dummy warhead. It was loud as all hell, and the dummy warhead shot out at a speed that was simply insane. It cut through the clouds and disappeared into the night sky, leaving nothing in its place. I was speechless; REX had just gotten far more terrifying. FOXHOUND- well, most of it- reconvened after that, and Liquid reported that the dummy warhead had only gone thirty-eight centimeters off from the plotted trajectory.

"It can launch nuclear warheads with that range and accuracy as well?" Octopus wondered incredulously.

"Yes. The ballistics are all the same," Liquid replied.

"Of course, it's not actually _capable _of firing a real nuke yet," Mantis added.

Liquid narrowed his eyes and spat, "Right. The engineer just rewrote the code so it would fire those things. But I'm certain he'll finish the code, given the right application of pressure."

"That sniveling moron is completely incompetent," Mantis muttered.

"Oh come on, he's probably just out of his depth in this black budget stuff," I said. I didn't know him personally, but from what I had heard he was just given the wrong type of assignment.

"What do you care?" Octopus asked with a raised eyebrow.

I shrugged and replied, "From what I've heard, he's a good guy. That's all."

"We're in the business of killing good guys if they get in our way," Liquid said sternly. "Speaking of which, it's time to make the call to Ocelot." The next day started out quietly as anything. But the mooks were talking about everything we had shoved into their heads and made them believe they supported; I knew Baker and Anderson would catch on, and when that happened it would kick everything off. And soon after Ocelot came back, it did. According to what I later heard, Anderson and Baker were attempting to get to the communication tower and figure out what the hell was going on here when Ocelot arrived to take them prisoner. Baker was easily subdued, but Anderson was able to get away… until he fell into a trapdoor. And now they were both captive while the programmer was stuck in his lab completing the code. We were quietly taking over this place, and nobody would know until we announced it.

About an hour after these events, Liquid gave me the duty of going around the outside of the base and checking on everyone's progress. Things were going smoothly… until I hit the ice field. I could only stare at the image in front of me; the dogs and wolf dogs were all huddled together, and three guards were pointing their guns at them. I could hear the growls and frightened whimpers of the dogs…

They were going to shoot them. They were going to shoot my babies. I would _die _before letting them do that. My face twisted into an angry snarl and I took aim at the guards.

"No! Wait, please stop!"

Two of the guards lowered their guns (I lowered mine just a fraction) and turned at the sound of a very desperate man running towards them. The man looked like a scientist, with unruly grey-tinted hair and large glasses on his thin face. Another guard was chasing him down, and the guard was catching up.

"Hey! Get back here!" the guard shouted as he tackled the scientist to the cold, snow-covered ground.

"What's this guy's problem?" One of the guards about to shoot the dogs asked, glaring down at this new interloper.

"This is that Metal Gear designer, Dr. Emmerich. He heard about you guys shooting the dogs around here and freaked out," the guard on the ground replied, getting 'Emmerich' in chokehold. So, this was the man Liquid was talking about… he didn't seem that bad to me.

"They didn't do anything to you guys! They're just innocent animals! Leave 'em alone!" the scientist cried, struggling against the guard's hold. The pack at first seemed both annoyed and frightened by the increase of humans in the area besides just me, but now that Dr. Emmerich was here they seemed confused. What relation did _he _have to the pack?

"Shut up you," one of the guards grunted before pointing his assault rifle at the dogs once more. I could take no more. Immediately I brought the scope back up to my eye, took a second to aim and shot that guard right through the head. Blood and brain matter sprayed out onto his comrades and the scientist, freaking them all out exponentially; and I wasn't even finished. I took aim again and shot the other two. More blood stained the snow a bright red, and some of the blood got on the scientist's glasses. The guard holding down Emmerich let out a panicked yelp and released the scientist, jumping to his feet and running from me. Right as I was taking aim, Berthold leapt out of nowhere and buried his jaws in the throat of this guard. He went down faster than you could say Hindenburg.

I smiled, slung my rifle over my shoulders, and walked over to the scene of the carnage. I paused to glance at Emmerich as the scientist got to his knees; his eyes were locked on the mess before him, and I'm pretty sure a little part of him was thoroughly traumatized. Berthold finished ripping out the guard's throat and loped back over to the pack, tail wagging. I heard footsteps crunching through the snow and turned; Liquid had apparently made his way out here and wasn't exactly pleased at what I had done.

"May I ask why you just slaughtered three of our soldiers?" Liquid asked, raising an eyebrow.

I narrowed my eyes and shot back, "May I ask why these soldiers were about to kill the dogs?"

"I sent them here, but I didn't order them to do _that,_" Liquid remarked mostly to himself. I raised an eyebrow accusingly, and Liquid sent me a look that basically said 'seriously, I didn't'.

"There's no point in sending men here when there are already guards present," I said, cracking a smirk. Liquid glanced over at Berthold's handiwork, briefly looked at the dogs, then turned back to me.

"You have a point. Very well, do as you please," Liquid relented.

"Thank you," I said, grinning. Liquid waited about a second before leaving, sparing me a glance before continuing off. I looked over at the dogs, who had already made their way over to me and Emmerich. I heard one of the wolf dog pups bark, and I finally turned to Emmerich. The small one was pawing at his lap, and it took Emmerich a second or two to notice it since he was… staring at me. Even through his blood-covered lenses he could see me clearly enough, and I was genuinely perplexed. My jacket was on, so he couldn't possibly be staring at my chest. Huh… It had been a while since someone other than Liquid had just stared at _me_.

"Ah- hey there little guy! Oh, I'm so glad you're okay," Emmerich exclaimed, beaming down and scratching the little one on the head with one hand while pulling a small piece of meat out of his pocket. "Here, I pulled this out of my lunch for you. But don't tell the others, they might get jealous." The pup devoured it and licked the scientist's hand. He let out a small chuckle, and soon the rest of the pack surrounded him, licking him and generally demanding attention. I couldn't help but smile. I walked up, the dogs diverting some of their attention to me, and pulled a handkerchief out of one of my pockets. I held it out to Dr. Emmerich, which brought his attention back to me. Immediately his face turned red, and I attempted to hold down a chuckle.

"Here. Your glasses are covered in blood, that can't be good for your sight," I stated. Emmerich mumbled something that might have been a strangled 'thank you' before shakily taking the handkerchief from me and wiping off his glasses. I crouched down to about his level, the puppy now bounding over to me with his tail wagging. Immediately I scooped him up and petted him, trilling all kinds of gibberish in the way that one tends to when they're talking to dogs and simultaneously giving them positive attention.

"You're Dr. Emmerich, right?" I asked as the puppy scampered off my lap to bug Berthold.

Emmerich's face went even redder, and he stammered, "Uh, y-yeah, b-b-but… um, well you can… uh… call me H-hal." I blinked a few times; Hal was an odd name, but it was a nice one all the same.

"Alright Hal it is," I replied, smiling wider. "I'm Sniper Wolf. So, why does the pack like you so much?"

"I-I um… well… I feed them… and take care of them when… I'm not… um, working… so… we're like… friends, or m-maybe even family…" Hal mumbled, looking away from me as he did. Apparently he didn't have much experience with other people, that much was clear. Berthold ambled over to me and licked the side of my face. I let out a small chuckle and scratched him behind the ears, crooning to him in Kurdish that he did well in killing that man. It was silent for a little while before Hal spoke up again.

"U-um… I… Erm…"

"Yes?"

"Uhh… w-why did you… um… shoot that guy?" he finally managed to choke out.

"I like canines of all kinds," I replied as I scratched Berthold's stomach, "They're beautiful creatures, and I've become quite endeared to this particular pack." I continued to scratch Berthold's belly, and as I did I could've sworn I heard Hal say something that actually wasn't filled with stuttering and ellipses.

"What was that?" I asked, turning back to him with a curious expression. Immediately he jumped a little bit in surprise.

"I- Uh- N-nothing!" Hal replied, laughing nervously directly afterwards and awkwardly scratching the back of his neck. One of the females of the pack nudged him, bringing his attention to her instead of me. I cocked my head to the side just a little bit; he was breathing to hard, I could see it in the cold weather.

"You need to calm down," I remarked, popping a few Pentazemin capsules.

"H-huh? Who, me?"

"You're breathing to hard."

"Breathing too… O-oh! Sorry about that." I stood up and brushed the snow off of me, Berthold standing up with me. Hal's eyes followed me, of course.

"When you're done here, get back inside. I won't have you getting sick on my watch," I stated.

"You're… going to leave? Why are you…?"

"I know you won't try to run away, and there really isn't anywhere for you to go, so yeah," I explained with a grin.

"Oh… What about your handkerchief?" Hal wondered.

I shook my head and replied, "Keep it. I barely use it anyway, maybe you'll put it to better use than I will."

He was about to ask something else, but I added right then, "I'll feed the dogs for you while you're stuck in your lab, don't worry." He stared at me for a second before smiling at me as well. And right then I felt a sharp, emotional pain cut through me as I stared at his eyes. Those eyes… I had seen them before. Hopelessly longing and full of affection, I had seen those eyes only once before on Liquid, back when I had still been loving a shadow… I quickly turned around and made my way back inside, Berthold close beside me. I leaned against the door right after it closed, staring at my feet forlornly. Hal was nice, but I was getting _married_. If all of us survived this… I don't think I'd want to be the one to tell him that.

"I _could've _told him, too, but I didn't because I'm a pansy," I grumbled as I walked down the hall.

"Tell who what now?" I turned with a relieved smile; Liquid. Immediately I walked over to him and hugged him, letting out a sigh as I did.

"Basically, Emmerich has a crush on me and I am physically incapable of telling him we're getting married, therefore making myself feel guilty," I replied, my reply semi-muffled since I was speaking directly into the front of Liquid's neck. Liquid laughed just a bit.

"Well, if this all goes through without a casualty on our part and he isn't caught in the crossfire, I'll tell him personally," Liquid said.

"Will you be nice about it?" I asked. Liquid pondered that for about a second.

"Mmm… Nope. He has to pay for setting his sights on my fiancée," Liquid answered with a grin. I shot him half a glare.

"Lay off him, I'm sure if you just glare at him he'll cower in fear," I shot back. Right then, Ocelot poked his head out from around the corner and cleared his throat loudly.

"What is it?" Liquid asked, shooting Ocelot a glare.

"Emmerich finished the code. It's time to get the ball rolling," Ocelot replied with a small smirk. Immediately Liquid grinned a wicked grin, and I let go of him to smirk a smirk just as wicked. Things were _finally _getting off the ground! Liquid, Ocelot and I made our way to the conference room. Everyone was already there, the rest of FOXHOUND and quite a lot of mooks looking to us as we went through the door. Ocelot went to work, trying to patch us through to the president, and Liquid went to the head of the room. I stood with the others at the head of the crowd. Everyone was silent, waiting for Liquid to speak.

Liquid cleared his throat, then began, "Gentlemen, today marks the beginning of a new era in human history. Today will see the rise of a new power. In short, a military nation that will make the Spartans look like dirty, cowardly pacifists! These first few hours will be the most dangerous. The American government will do their damnedest to stop our revolution before we can reveal their secrets to the world. And it'll be my own twin brother they send to stop us. Most of you stand little chance of survival against the man with some of the most powerful genetics on the face of this planet. Nevertheless, I know I'll be able to count on every single one of you to stand with me, due to your unwavering loyalty and courage. Ocelot?"

The gunslinger walked up with a smirk and handed the phone to Liquid, saying as he did, "We're connected."

"Ready for this?" Liquid asked.

"Life wouldn't be worth living without someone to double-cross," Ocelot replied. Liquid let out a dark chuckle and held the phone up to his ear.

"Good evening, Mister President."


	22. Chapter 22: Arrival and Departure

_LAST TIME, REX failed super hardcore but then didn't, people got brainwash-ified, dudes got hostage'd, Wolf saved teh dogs with lethal force, Otacon fell in nerdy love, Wolf was all like UH YEAH I'M KINDA SORTA NOT-UNTAKEN BTW I LOVE SENDING MIXED MESSAGES TO PEOPLE PRONE TO DEVELOPING STOCKHOLM'S SYNDROME, there was fluff, and Liquid gave an amazing speech of amazing proportions. Now, gentlemen *shoves thirty-seven cigarettes in her mouth*, it's time for the chapter before all the really bad shit happens, and this marks the last chapter that's reffed supermega-hardcore off of Last Days of FOXHOUND. Aren't you glad~? … I'm so very glad my two best reviewers have never read that comic and therefore think I'm a creative genius when I'm not. … *kills self* Ahem. I don't own anything. _

_**-Arrival and Departure-**_

After Liquid made our presence known to the government and demanded Saladin's remains (among other things), I decided to do another sweep of the perimeter. I'm not entirely sure why, however. Perhaps this was just my paranoia kicking in. I don't think I need to tell you this, but I've been on edge for quite a while. I mean, I monologued about it just a little while ago; that's telling enough, I suppose. Anyways, back to business. I started out at the snowfield, making my way along the tree line and looking into the trees for any signs of trouble. All I saw for quite a while were just some birds and lots of trees. That is, until I walked by a very large tree; right as I was parallel with it, something leapt out and nearly landed on me without warning. I let out a yelp of surprise before turning to whoever had ambushed me and pointing the PSG-1 straight at them.

"Who the Hell-" I cut myself off when I realized who it was. He paused to brush the snow and pine needles off his clothes before turning to me with a raised eyebrow. It was more than a little surprising to see him again; I was staring at Ghost Turtle. He hadn't changed a bit since I saw him here a few years back. His eyes were still pale, his skin was still nearly translucent, and he still seemed to have not gotten a wink of sleep his entire life.

Turtle pushed the PSG-1 to the side, sighed, and remarked, "Is lethal force truly necessary, Wolf? Really now, I expected better from you." I lowered my rifle and narrowed my eyes just a bit.

"In case you've forgotten, in our line of work it's best to resort to lethal force if someone random leaps out from a tree at you," I snapped. "By the way, what are you doing here?"

"I was in the _tree_ because there happened to be a talkative ghost up there," Turtle replied, "And I'm here because there's both a lost soul and a fellow cyborg on this island." I furrowed my eyebrows, confused; say what now? … Right, I forgot. Turtle is probably the oddest combination of abilities I've ever seen, both a low-grade cyborg and a spirit medium. I didn't feel it was relevant to explain this at the time and… yeah, sorry.

"What are you-"

"Allow me to explain," Turtle cut in. "You know Grey Fox and what Dr. Clarke put him through, right?" I looked away, but I nodded all the same; thinking about Grey Fox and the Cyborg Ninja project was never very pleasant.

"Right. Now, since he was forcefully brought back from the grave, he is a wandering soul that has lost its way," Turtle continued, "That falls under my jurisdiction as a spirit medium, and cyborgs gotta look out for other cyborgs, which puts me here too. That… and Grey Fox was my friend. I want to help him, even if that means killing him." I was about to smile, but then something hit me, and my eyes widened.

"Wait a minute- so Grey Fox is _here_?" I exclaimed, suddenly getting it. Honestly, I was rather disappointed that it took me this long. I'd smash my head against a rock later for that.

"Yep, and he isn't happy," Turtle answered. "Every single experiment they performed on him has warped his mind so much that he barely even knows who he is anymore. All he wants is to fight Snake to the death. Naomi must've let it slip that Snake might be on this mission, that must be why he's here. And he'll probably settle even for someone who looks like Snake… Let's not let him get a look at Liquid, that's priority number one."

I put on a stern expression and stated, "We should alert the others, give them the lowdown so we can properly search for him and deal with him."

"You read my mind," Turtle commented with a small smirk. We didn't waste any time, running across the snowfield and back into the facility. It didn't take very long to round everyone up, although nobody was really happy to be taken from what they were doing. Actually, we weren't able to find Octopus, but that barely mattered right now. We all grouped up in Liquid's office, and since Turtle and I had the floor we stood behind the desk.

"We'll keep this short," Turtle began, "Y'know that Cyborg Ninja Campbell vaguely told you about a while ago? That ninja is Grey Fox and he wants to kill everything/everyone. Savvy?" They just stared at us, and they had every right to. After all, Turtle's word wasn't exactly credible, and though I trusted him and trusted everything I knew… it was kind of sketchy. Well, wasn't everything around us these days?

"… Are you shitting us?" Ocelot finally asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No, we aren't," I sighed. "Trust me, I can back this up. It's far too elaborate to go into right now, but if you want I'll tell you the whole story later. Anyway, Grey Fox is _dangerous_ now, even more dangerous than he was when he was a normal human. We have to drop everything, find him, and eliminate him."

Liquid let out a small noise before he stepped forward and snapped, "Wolf, it isn't that simple. We can't just drop everything on the word of someone we barely even know and go looking for someone who _should _be a decade or so dead!"

"Ugh- Liquid, I'm _sure _about this! It all makes sense, it's plausible!" I insisted, jumping over the desk to meet Liquid halfway and glare at him. I knew he was probably under the most stress out of all of us, but really! He was just being too difficult here, he wasn't even _listening_!

"I'm not going to drop everything on an unfounded assertion!" Liquid shot back. And right then, Octopus burst through the door with a freaked-out expression.

The disguise master exclaimed, "Dude, there's like five of our guys with giant holes in their chests! Like, someone stabbed 'em with a big ol' sword or somethin'! … Is Snake here already?" Liquid just stared at him, and I looked to him with a satisfied smirk. Liquid frowned, then let out a small sigh.

"_Fine_. Let's go hunt for Grey Fox," Liquid proclaimed. I nodded, and shortly after we all split up. Liquid and I were a team, as were Ocelot and Raven, Mantis and Octopus, and Turtle by himself. Liquid charged Mantis with keeping close tabs on his thoughts though, since even though they had each other's backs for a few hours or so Liquid didn't trust Turtle. Our search was relatively quiet, since there was tension in the air and I was still a little mad at Liquid. We didn't find him anywhere outside, but our luck improved inside. We made it to right outside Hal's lab when Berthold began barking and growling at something down the hall.

"What is it, Bertie?" I asked, crouching down to his level with a concerned look. Liquid tried a far more logical approach and looked the way Berthold was looking; he froze a second afterwards.

"Wolf… I think we've found him," Liquid remarked. I looked down the hall, and nearly froze myself; on the other side of the hallway was… it was hard to even explain it! If I had to, though, I guess I'd say that a man with a brown and blue body and a silver head with one glowing red eye right in the center was standing there. He held a huge Japanese sword in one hand, and in that one cold, robotic eye, I could see he was out for blood. It was Grey Fox- no… This was what Grey Fox had become, what Dr. Clarke had turned him into.

"Snake… I've found you at last," Grey Fox growled in a mechanical voice, brandishing his sword and pointing it right at Liquid. Liquid frowned, and I could see him muttering 'Not this again' under his breath. I quickly got to my feet and pointed the PSG-1 straight at that glowing red eye. That wasn't an easy task, however. I had to constantly think over and over in my head that it wasn't really Grey Fox in my crosshairs, it was just a shadow… And yet I still had a hard time convincing myself of that.

I prepared to squeeze the trigger and put an end to his miserable excuse of an existence, but out of nowhere Turtle jumped out next to Grey Fox and tackled him to the ground, knocking that sword out of his hands in the process. Both of our eyes widened; that genuinely came right the fuck out of nowhere. Turtle and Grey Fox rolled around on the floor, Grey Fox trying to push the fellow cyborg off and Turtle punching, elbowing, just generally beating on Grey Fox in return. I thought Turtle carried a gun, why was he trying to kill Grey Fox with his bare hands?

"Wolf, try to get a shot in while he can't- _ach_!- deflect it!" Turtle called, getting punched in the face mid-sentence before he smashed Grey Fox's head against the floor.

"Wha- He can deflect _bullets_?" I echoed incredulously. Turtle let out an affirmative 'noise' while Grey Fox had his throat in a vice grip.

"I can't risk it, you're moving around too much! I might hit you!" I called back.

"Then one of you get over here and help me!" Turtle snapped, briefly getting the cyborg ninja in a chokehold before he was elbowed in the stomach. Liquid nodded purposefully and was about to run forward when a crackling sound caused both of us to look down at the floor. Bright blue bolts of electricity zapped across the floor; someone had turned the electric floor on.

"Are you _kidding _me? When did that turn on?" Liquid exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air in frustration.

"Anytime you feel like helping- agh! Mother_fucker_!" Turtle yelled, dangerously close to the electric floor.

"We've got to shut off the fuse box," Liquid stated seriously.

"There's no time for that," I shot back, and right then I got an idea. "… I'm going to jump it."

"What? Are you _insane?_" Turtle shouted from his fight. I backed up all the same and prepared to get a running start at it.

"I can do this, I _can _do this," I whispered to myself.

"No, you _can't_!" Liquid snapped, for once being the logical one here. "Look, Jesse Owens, on a good day, _might_ make it all the way over, and then he'd fall back and electrocute himself. The only way you'd be able to get over there without touching the floor is if you were Manic Rat! We'll just find the-" I was already sprinting toward the floor as fast as I could. But, right as I leapt into the air, Grey Fox grabbed Turtle by the throat and Turtle used that to his 'advantage'; quicker than I could process, Turtle smashed his head backwards into the electric floor. Immediately the electricity began to course through his body, making the lights flicker and electrocuting Grey Fox as well. My eyes widened in horror and shock.

And right then, both Grey Fox and Turtle let out a scream. It was loud and blood curdling, and I could perfectly understand why. They were part machine (well, Grey Fox was more than just _part_), the electricity was frying their circuits, their internal organs… It was horrifying. Grey Fox let go of Turtle right as the power went out from the overload, but Turtle didn't move an inch. I wasn't prepared for my landing and fell onto my knees the second my feet hit the floor. Immediately I covered my nose; the smell of fried electronics and charred skin was just disgusting.

Nearby, Ocelot and Raven had caught up, and Grey Fox was freaking out. The electricity still coursed around his body in bolts, and he grabbed his head in his hands with a tortured howl. The cyborg ninja smashed his head into the wall, then into the other wall. He let out another shriek of pain and madness, and I nearly bolted back down the hallway to Liquid.

"The medicine, the mediciiiineee!" Grey Fox screamed before bolting out of there faster than I could process.

"He looks weakened, let's follow him!" Raven called before running after him. Ocelot nodded and ran after him as well, saying something I wasn't paying attention to. I had moved to Turtle's side by that point. His mouth was frozen open in that blood-curdling scream, and those pale eyes had rolled into the back of his head. He was as still as a statue. Liquid walked up to me hesitantly, as did Berthold. Bertie sniffed the top of Turtle's head experimentally.

"… He's dead, isn't he," Liquid 'asked' in a flat tone. I nodded solemnly. He gave his life trying to send Grey Fox back to the afterlife, where he belonged… and he hadn't even succeeded. And to top it all off, his death had been so goddamn _painful_… I stood up, pulling his body up with me.

"I'm going to go bury him," I stated. Liquid nodded, and I left with Turtle's body in tow. I decided the snowfield was the best place to put him, and with some difficulty I was able to dig him a reasonably deep hole right at the foot of that tree he had jumped out of. I set Turtle's body in the hole, but paused a bit before covering him back up. Should I really bury him out here? Should I save his body until after Snake comes through, then send it to be buried in his home?

I shook my head; even though he was Irish, he may have considered some place entirely different to be his home. I couldn't make that call, I didn't know him… I didn't know him. That stung the most; he basically died while helping people he didn't even know. That wouldn't be what I died for, no _way_.

I covered Turtle up again with the snow and dirt, but before I did I paused to close his eyes and configure his mouth so that he didn't look like he was screaming any more. In fact, I made him look as stoic as ever. When I finished, you could barely tell I had done anything to the spot. I was about to go straight inside, but I stopped; I turned back to the burial sight, got on my knees, and wrote 'Ghost Turtle' into the snow with my index finger. I spared a short prayer to Allah for his soul to rest in peace, and _then _I went back inside. I probably spent too much time on that, but death was death, and Ghost Turtle was a good man. He deserved for _someone _on this Allah-forsaken island to care that he had died.

When I got back in, the power was back up. I learned from Liquid afterwards that the red-haired female soldier- Meryl Silverburgh, I soon learned- had been caught trying to escape during the power outage. For some reason or another, the brainwashing hadn't worked on her. Apparently she had low-grade psychic insulation, God knows where she got it. They had been ready to just kill her on the spot, but the girl had let it slip that _Campbell _was her uncle… Well, this opportunity was just too sweet to pass up. Using her and her lineage to manipulate Snake would be a piece of cake. They were keeping her in Anderson's holding cell while Ocelot was torturing the poor man for the detonation code. Mantis was standing by just in case his nanotech failed.

And then the lights turned off.

Liquid let out a colorful British curse and immediately stormed off to the torture chamber. I followed suit, eager to see who got electrocuted this time. The first thing I noticed when we got in there was the _smell_. Allah, the smell of charred, electrocuted, dead pure human was _disgusting._ I felt about ready to cough up a lung, so I stayed near the doorway for the entire time we were there. Liquid stormed up to the dead body of Donald Anderson on the torture device, looking very displeased. He was _really _wound up now! That early confidence must've been slipping away from him…

"You fool! You've killed him!" Liquid exclaimed, turning to Ocelot.

Ocelot was quiet for a bit before he simply said, "I'm sorry, sir." Pff, like he meant it.

"His mental shielding was very strong. I couldn't dive into his mind," Mantis added.

"Now we'll _never _get that detonation code," Liquid hissed, grinding his teeth.

"Boss, I have a good idea," Mantis suddenly interjected. Liquid turned to him now with a confused and interested expression on his face. I decided to walk up right then, interested as well.

"Since this is going to take a while, let's move this to a less dead-body-filled locale," Mantis remarked. Several minutes and one moving of a body later, we were all grouped in Liquid's office again. We were all huddled around the desk, and a Mantis had set up a map layout of the facility. Nearby, there were several game pieces that were apparently going to represent us. Mantis cleared his throat to get our attention.

"Alright, pay attention," Mantis began. "We need to get REX armed without Anderson's code, thanks to dear ol' Ocelot getting overexcited with him. The only other option is to use the key card override, which arms the weapon if it's disarmed and disarms the weapon if it's armed. Don't ask me why they would design it that way. But since we don't know where to find the override key, or how to use it for that matter… We get Solid Snake to do it for us. If he thinks we've _already _armed Metal Gear, he'll have no choice but to track down the override and use it to disarm the weapon."

"But actually… he'll be _arming _it," Octopus stated.

"Exactly," Mantis replied. "But the plan hinges on him never finding that out until it's too late. We have to make a big show of how we've already got _both _codes and are ready to launch. Put it over the radio, have loud conversations he'll overhear. In essence, this is the biggest con any of us could've possibly imagined… Except maybe Ocelot, but you get my point." Ocelot glared at him, but Mantis ignored him and decided to pull a pointer stick out of nowhere.

"His first move will be to locate the hostages," Mantis continued, moving a white game piece to holding cell one. "He'll be able to track the nanomachines in Anderson and Baker. So we disguise Octopus as Anderson, and he feeds Snake a big pile of bullshit when he comes to the rescue. Convince him we already have Anderson's code. But also find out if his superiors gave him any info on the override. If we're lucky, the army will have given him the intel he needs ahead of time instead of sending him in clueless." Ocelot rolled his eyes, and Mantis glared at him this time.

"I said _if we're lucky_," Mantis snapped.

"Then what? After he springs me, I follow him around and report back when we find something?" Octopus asked.

"No, standard procedure is to leave the hostages in place until he's ready for extraction," Liquid replied.

"So I sit on my ass while you guys run around doing stuff," Octopus remarked with a small frown.

"That's right," Mantis replied.

"… This is the best plan ever," Octopus declared with a grin.

"I knew I could count on you," Mantis said. "Now technically Baker's code is totally useless to us without Anderson's. But we need Snake to think we have it. We only have one master of disguise, so Baker has to tell Snake himself. And that means Ocelot has to torture the code out of him."

"Can do~!" Ocelot replied cheerily.

"_Without killing him_," Mantis added sternly.

"Oh come on, you think I don't-" We all just glared at him, leading Ocelot to discontinue his sentence.

Ocelot muttered something under his breath, then said, "Okay, I _get _it. I fucked up. But that guy was tough as nails! Baker is softer than air compared to that guy! I won't even need any tools! A few broken bones in the right places and he'll spill everything."

"Good. I'll watch," Liquid stated. Ocelot just stared at him with his eyes wide.

"… Do you have to? I get self-conscious when people watch me work," Ocelot remarked.

"I think that's the idea," Mantis pointed out.

"Didn't you say torture was like art?" Octopus asked with a small smirk.

"Not performance art!" Ocelot snapped.

Liquid let out a sigh and relented, "Fine, you can do it yourself. But if you kill him, there'll be hell to pay."

"Am I the only one who sees a teensy problem with letting Snake run around the base willy-nilly?" I cut in, frowning.

"What's that?" Mantis asked.

"Besides stopping Metal Gear, Snake will also have been given orders to _kill us all_!" I replied, slamming my hand down on the table for emphasis.

"She's got a point," Octopus commented.

Mantis then asked, "What do _you _care? You'll be in disguise the whole time."

"Well I won't be! And if I have a chance to kill him I'm taking it," I declared, narrowing my eyes.

"No, we need him alive until REX is activated. Not one second longer, I can promise you that," Liquid said, looking at me with slightly calmer eyes.

I furrowed my eyebrows even more and shot back, "And if he tries to kill us? Are we just supposed to let him?"

"Absolutely not! No suicide missions! But avoid killing him until you're out of other options," Liquid replied, actually getting a tiny bit worked up over that. I smirked; well well, he didn't want to loose his fiancee after all.

"On the other hand, if he meets no resistance whatsoever he'll get suspicious," Ocelot commented. "He'd better get into firefights here and there so he doesn't think too much."

"I will face him," Raven declared with a resolved expression.

"You sure?" Mantis asked.

"I look forward to testing him," Raven replied with a small smirk. Mantis put a blue game piece in the canyon to represent Raven.

"_Only _test him, though," Liquid added.

"I will not throw anything at him he can't handle," Raven said. "… Just the tank."

"… Right," Liquid deadpanned.

Mantis then continued, "I'm assuming at some point Snake will partner up with Meryl, given his connection with Campbell," He paused to move a green game-piece into the office, "Since she'll be easily mind-controlled with the anti-telepathy nanotech gone, I can use her to keep Snake on the path we've laid out. I'll confront him once he's had a chance to question Emmerich, and see what he's found out. Wolf, your job is to ambush at the entrance to the comm tower. By that point he ought to have made some progress on getting the override figured out, so you capture him. The tower is the perfect sniper perch." I smiled at that.

"Alright, leave that to me," I replied happily.

Mantis nodded and kept on, "You'll hand him over to Ocelot, and while he's roughing him up with that torture device of his, he'll check through his gear to see if Snake has the override device yet. If he does, we'll guide him to REX, and our work is done. We can kill him then. If he doesn't, we'll have to lead him around some more until he finds it. That's the plan. Any questions?" We all exchanged looks; none of us seemed to have any…

"Good. Now, let's get the ball rolling," Mantis declared. Immediately we all cleared out, Liquid and I walking out side-by-side almost unconsciously. However, Ocelot stopped him right afterwards, so I left on my own. I walked through the hallways alone; and by alone, I mean _alone _alone. There were no soldiers, no rats, nobody. I was perfectly alone. I listened to the sound of my own footsteps on the metal floors, cold and impersonal. Things were going to happen now, they were going to start happening after so long… I was scared. But I couldn't be, and I wouldn't be.

I got halfway to the comm. tower before Berthold joined me (I was so very glad for the company), and when I got up to the level I decided was good enough, I looked out over the balcony at the facility below. All I saw was white, grey, and black. I could see the ocean on the horizon, but that was hardly any more colorful… Really, now that I thought of it, it reminded me of my old outlook on the Syrian Desert. Shadow Moses Island was a cold, bleak, and (to use a Christian expression in the terms of a Muslim) Allah-forsaken place. I couldn't wait to leave. I decided that I didn't need to be out here just yet (and I wanted to watch what was going down), so I went into the nearby surveillance room. Yeah, I knew I had a rep to uphold of waiting for weeks on end for my target, but my friends would be risking their lives, and I had to see how they were doing or else I'd be too worried and distracted to aim. I sat down in the chair in front of the screens, and Berthold sat at my feet.

I scratched him behind the ears, smiling softly. Berthold had followed me through everything, _just _for patching up a few bruises and cracks I accidentally caused. Now _that _was what I called loyalty. My smile faltered; if I died… would he follow me? I shuddered immediately afterwards. I wouldn't let him die just because of me. And right then… something randomly came to mind. I blinked a few times and rifled through my various pockets until I found that crumpled up piece of paper Naomi gave me. I hadn't touched it- except to keep it on my person- since I received it.

"What is this anyway?" I asked myself. I was about to un-crumple it, but my Codec chirped loudly in my ear. I jumped a little from the surprise (I never really got used to that) and answered once I had ascertained that I was being called by a familiar frequency.

"Liquid?" I asked, rather surprised that he was calling. I could see through the monitor that he was quite happy, unable to fight a maniacal smirk.

"Two F-16s have just been spotted heading this way," Liquid stated, "Obviously a distraction to cover Snake's entrance."

"So he's here?" I questioned further.

"He'll be coming in through the cargo dock, I'm sure of it," Liquid replied. "I'd love to confront him head on, but I have to swat down those bothersome flies."

"You sound happy," I remarked.

Liquid let out a small chuckle and said, "Indeed I am. I'm certain I don't need to explain to you why that is." I smiled a bit.

"The moment we've been waiting for is upon us, my love," Liquid continued. "I trust you're about as excited as I am?" I took a second to think about that, and now that I did… I wasn't scared. I had since accepted everything that could possibly happen, I knew what my fate may or may not have held. I wasn't scared, I was brimming with anticipation! I couldn't wait to put a bullet in Snake! It was a shame I couldn't kill him, but a bullet was a bullet.

I grinned wide and replied, "I'm excited, but I don't think anyone's as excited as you are. After he's out of the way, our Outer Heaven will create a new era in human history, and we'll get married. It'll happen, no matter what." Liquid grinned wider, then signed off. I turned to the surveillance monitors with my smile still present. Octopus was in Anderson's form and pacing around the holding cell. Mantis was floating around Liquid's office, looking at everything in there in detail. Ocelot was mercilessly torturing Baker; I had no sympathy for him. Raven was moving the tank from the hangar to the canyon. Hal was sitting alone and frightened in his office, and Liquid was just stepping out onto the helicopter pad, about to go fly the Hind D into this blizzard.

I looked into another monitor that was pointed just right; I could see the moon even through all this snow. If I were a wolf, I would've howled up at it. That light in the sky was a beacon of victory, a spotlight for our grand performance. Everything was going to go just right, and we'd all come out on top.

Tonight, we were going to change the world.


	23. Chapter 23: Solid Snake

_LAST TIME, Turtle died for your sins, Grey Fox is on the loose, the DARPA chief was tased to death (he reportedly shouted DON'T TASE ME BRO before his death), Mantis made an unnecessarily convoluted plan, Wolf and Liquid had a deliciously evil codec conversation, and Wolf got ready to WATCH SOME TV. Before we begin, I'm watching walkthroughs of both the original game and the remake, since I can't take the original seriously (since nobody has a GODDAMN FACE (I know they had limited graphics but seriously)). And, Snake's tactics in this will be strictly based off the tactics of the players in these walkthroughs, along with my own imagination. I'll also be reffing off the novelization for some parts. Just a heads up. Oh yeah, and let me just tell you: TRANSCRIBING THE CODEC CALLS/CUTSCENES IS _HARD_. I own nothing, let's roll._

_**-Solid Snake-**_

Immediately after that dramatic thought, I rolled my chair over to the monitor of the cargo dock and turned on the audio link (although, there wasn't really much to hear just yet). I could see a figure behind one of the large crates, crouched down on one knee for some reason or another. He was probably receiving or sending out a Codec call; people tended to crouch down when they got Codec calls, I don't know why. His face was obscured both by some kind of mask and the not-so-great video quality, but I was quite certain that this was Solid Snake. Snake stood up right then, flattening himself against the crate. I watched intently as the soldier set to work.

Right as one of the two sentries down there rounded the corner, Snake shot out and grabbed the man in a headlock. Looks like Snake was sent in here without so much as a knife; I winced- from the few times I had to do it, I knew that On Site Procurement was a _bitch_. Snake broke the sentry's neck, waited a bit, then dragged him into the open and darted back behind the crate. I raised an eyebrow, but right as I was about to wonder the practicality of that maneuver, the other sentry rushed over to his dead comrade.

Snake wasted no time and broke that man's neck while he was distracted. Both of my eyebrows went up, and right then the elevator came back down with another guard inside. Snake was quick to hide again, and this new guard took the bait without question. In several seconds, he was down as well. Snake waited a few seconds, then rushed to the elevator and pressed the button to go up. The doors closed, and Snake was out of there.

I let out a small 'hm' noise in contemplation before I switched off the audio link and rolled over to the monitor that had a clear shot of the elevator. As I turned on the audio link, I thought to myself that we really should get a better system for this. Then I thought to myself about Snake's tactics in the cargo dock; it was obvious that he was ruthless, and from the looks of things, he wanted to get this done as quickly as possible. I twisted my mouth into a scowl; he was just as heartless as I imagined him to be.

The video quality in the elevator was a little better. Snake removed his mask, and I shuddered just a bit. He was basically a young Saladin with his eye still intact, shorter hair, and no stubble. If this were five years ago, I would've been rendered catatonic by that fact. Now… it was just kind of surreal. The elevator was remarkably quick in getting to the surface, and I had to switch to the heliport monitor. The Hind D's blades were spinning faster than I could process, so I was certain that Liquid would take off soon. I got to work, using some of the hacking and audio equipment to jack into Snake's frequency. Mantis had gotten some information out of Mei Ling while I was in Russia with Ocelot, and he had been generous enough to share with me the basics of hacking someone's Codec frequency and monitor it over radio. I finished just as Snake got through to whoever he was calling.

Immediately the soldier's low, gravely voice came through the speakers; "It's Snake. I'm in front of the disposal facility."

"Excellent, Snake," the voice of Colonel Campbell replied, "Age hasn't slowed you down one bit." I rolled my eyes; Snake was barely over thirty, talking about age like that was just ridiculous, almost insulting. I'm only twenty-eight, I'd get pissed off if someone called me out on _my _age right now. Snake wasn't as affected as I was, since he didn't say anything.

"How's that sneaking suit working out?" My eyes shot open wider; that was Naomi's voice! What was she doing on Snake's support team? I answered my own question soon after; she lived with us for years, she's probably the authority on FOXHOUND. Bringing her in would only be logical. I guess that note she left me was making me a little jittery. I glanced over to where I had set it on the table; I'd have to read it sooner or later, I just kept stalling. I was afraid it was bad news, of course.

"I'm nice and dry, but it's a little hard to move," Snake replied.

"Bear with it. It's designed to prevent hypothermia. This _is _Alaska, you know," Naomi instructed. Her tone was oddly stoic, exactly like she was trying not to fly into a rage at Snake any second. She had to play advisor to the man she hated most; I felt her pain.

"Take it easy, I'm grateful," Snake said, "If it weren't for your suit and your shot, I would've turned into a popsicle out there."

"An anti-freezing peptide, Snake. All of the Genome Soldiers in this exercise are using it," Naomi clarified. I raised my eyebrows a bit; I hadn't known that. Funny what you learned from eavesdropping.

"I see. I'm relieved to hear that. Already tested, huh? By the way, how's the diversionary operation going?" Snake asked. Every word out of his mouth just made me want to stab him with a blunt object.

"Two F16s just took off from Galena and are headed your way," Campbell replied. "The terrorists' radar should've already picked them up." Snake paused to look over at the Hind D as it slowly rose into the air.

"A Hind D? Colonel, what's a Russian gunship doing here?" Snake wondered. He sure did ask a lot of questions…

"I have no idea," Campbell answered, "But it looks like our little diversion got their attention. There are only eighteen hours left until their deadline. You've got to hurry!"

"Wow, he must be crazy to fly a Hind in this kind of weather," a small voice chimed in from the side. I smirked; they put Mei Ling on it too, it seemed. I smirked a little wider once her statement hit me. Liquid was kind of crazy, and for some reason that was fine with me.

Maybe _I _was crazy as well… Wait, I already knew that.

"Who's that?" Snake asked.

"Oh, sorry. I haven't introduced you two yet. This is Mei Ling," Campbell replied, "She was assigned to us as our visual- and data- processing specialist. She designed your Codec as well as your Soliton Radar System. Contact her if you have any questions about either of them."

"Nice to meet you, Snake~! It's an honor to meet a living legend like yourself," Mei Ling chirped. Obviously, she was overwhelmed. Snake was silent for a little while, which irked me to no end. He was obviously ogling the poor girl through the Codec monitor. He was making it far too easy for me to hate him more than I already did.

"What's wrong?" Mei Ling asked. I could just see her cocking her head to the side and making her 'confused' face.

Snake got his shit together and replied, "Nothing. I just didn't expect a world-class designer of military technology to be so… _cute_." Oh _god_! I could feel myself choking on my own vomit! What was even worse was that he had come to the exact same conclusion as I had about the Chinese girl.

Mei Ling giggled and said, "You're just flattering me."

"No, I'm serious," Snake insisted. "Well, I know I won't be bored for the next eighteen hours."

"What's this? I'm being hit on by the famous Solid Snake? But, I'm surprised… I didn't think you'd be so frank," Mei Ling remarked semi-teasingly.

"It looks like we have a lot to learn about each other."

"It does, doesn't it? Well, let's get to know each other better. But first, let me explain about your Soliton Radar System…" I rolled my eyes and tuned out for the next several seconds; I didn't need to know how it worked, it wasn't my problem.

Right as I tuned back in, Campbell's voice cut through; "First, I want you to infiltrate the disposal facility and look for the DARPA chief."

"The DARPA chief was injected with the same GPS transmitting nanomachines as you," Naomi commented.

"He should show up on your radar as a green dot," Mei Ling pointed out.

"Get whatever information you can from him about the terrorists," Campbell finished, "If he's alive, that is…" I chuckled knowingly to myself. Mei Ling went on to explain that the radar won't work if he's discovered, and that it wouldn't work in an area with strong harmonic resonance. I raised an eyebrow and tried to figure out what that meant in this context.

"We'll be monitoring your movements by radar, so contact us by Codec anytime you want," Campbell said.

"Got it. I'll call if I'm feeling lonely," Snake said sarcastically.

"Seriously, Snake. We're here to back you up, so call if you need some information or advice," Naomi chided. Campbell reminded Snake of the woe that is On Site Procurement, and Snake and Naomi had an exchange involving strip searching that I told myself over and over didn't just happen. If he _did _touch her, I'd track him down and kill him myself, plan be damned.

"By the way, sorry to disappoint you, but I did manage to smuggle out my smokes," Snake remarked.

"How did you do _that_?" Naomi asked disbelievingly.

"In my stomach, thanks to the shot you gave me that suppressed my stomach acids," Snake replied proudly. I winced; I did _not _want to see him cough those up.

"Cigarettes? How are _those _going to help you?" Mei Ling asked, obviously a little disgusted.

"You never know." I had easily gotten bored by this scene, so I rolled over to the nearest monitor. I was pleasantly surprised. It was pointed up for some reason or another, and I could see the shadows of the F16s and the Hind D soaring towards each other. Immediately two of the Hind D's missiles shot out at the F16s, blowing them out of the skies. I beamed with pride as I watched the shadows of the fighter planes fall out of the shot, and followed the Hind D until it left the shot.

When I looked back to Snake, he was coming out of the back of a truck with a SOCOM model pistol in hand. I let out a small 'hmph'; looks like OSP wasn't too hard for him. Snake made his way around the helicopter pad and over to the stairs leading to the second floor of the disposal facility, avoiding the sentries and surveillance cameras with ease. He made his way onto the second floor and into one of the ventilation ducts before any other sentries noticed him. I frowned a bit more; there weren't any cameras in the ducts, I wouldn't have a visual of him until he dropped down somewhere. And right then, another Codec call came through.

"Snake, this is McDonnell Miller," 'Miller's voice said. "It's been a long time." Immediately I made a confused face; I was told Miller was dead. … I then thought back to that voice and realized that that was Liquid putting on a bad American accent over his British one. I snickered a bit; I wondered how well this would go over on Snake.

"Master? What are you doing here?" Snake asked. I laughed; hook, line, and sinker.

"I quit being a drill instructor, so I moved out here for some peace and quiet. I'm in retirement, just like you," Liquid explained, "Once in a while I still help train the Alaskan Scouts."

"Passing on the skills to a new generation, huh?" Snake wondered.

Liquid let out a small chuckle before continuing, "Campbell told me about the situation here. I thought I might be f some use."

"There's no one I'd rather have in a foxhole than you," Snake replied.

"Well, I know lots about survival in a harsh environment. I've lived in Alaska longer than you, so call me if you have any questions about the flora or fauna out here," Liquid said, and after telling Snake his frequency, the call ended.

"Really? How did he fall for that _awful _accent?" I wondered.

"Like yours is any better." I slowly swiveled around to see Liquid standing in the doorway and 'glaring' over a pair of mirrored shades at me. I just smiled and laughed nervously. He smirked and stowed the sunglasses into a coat-pocket, then walked over to me. Immediately Berthold got to his feet with his tail wagging, circling around Liquid a few times.

"Your accent sucked in a good way," I said with another nervous laugh. Liquid just looked at me with another raised eyebrow, and I gave up on trying to 'apologize' for dissing Liquid's performance.

"So, what are you doing here?" I asked, swiveling around to face him as he stopped on my other side.

"Well, I don't really have to do much until the very end of the plan, so I decided I might as well watch my brother's progress by your side," Liquid answered. I smiled wide, pleased with what I heard.

"I'm glad to have the company," I replied. Right then, Snake showed up on the monitor of the level one basement. Apparently he had found out where Octopus was located. There was a short clip of him running through the hallway and back up into the vents, and while Liquid watched the monitor of Octopus's holding cell with rapt attention, I started unfolding Naomi's note. Hell, I might as well read it… And then Liquid turned on the audio link for that monitor, bringing me right back as Snake dropped into the cell.

Right as the audio went up, Snake said, "I'm here to save you." Octopus- disguised as Anderson- put on a convincing performance, backing away from Snake with a suspicious look.

"You're here to save me, huh?" Octopus echoed. "What's your outfit?"

"I'm just the pawn they sent in to save your worthless butt," Snake replied. Octopus feigned coming around.

"Really? … It's true, you don't look like one of them," Octopus commented. "In that case, hurry up and get me out of here!"

"Slow down. Don't worry," Snake said, "First I want some information about the terrorists." Liquid frowned; I could tell, being labeled a terrorist- especially by his brother- did not please him in the slightest.

"The terrorists?" I blinked a few times; Octopus… I could tell he wasn't just echoing, so… he was… _confused _we were being referred to as terrorists? … I thought he didn't even care.

Snake ignored that and asked, "Do they really have the ability to launch a nuke?"

"What are you talking about?"

"The terrorists are threatening the White House. They say if they don't accede to their demands, they'll launch a nuclear weapon," Snake explained. Octopus feigned horror, turning away from Snake as he did.

"Sweet Jesus…" Octopus breathed, pacing over and sitting on the cot chained to the wall.

"Is it possible?" Snake demanded, getting slightly exasperated with the lack of an immediate response.

Octopus sighed and said, "It's possible. They… _could _launch a nuke."

"How do they plan to launch?" Snake immediately questioned further. "I thought this place was just for the keeping of dismantled warheads, they shouldn't have access to a missile."

Octopus scoffed, "That's the _official _story, got it? We were conducting exercises with a new type of experimental weapon. A truly historical weapon."

"What?"

"A weapon with the ability to launch a nuclear attack from any place on the face of the Earth," Octopus clarified, "A nuclear-equipped walking battle tank."

"Metal Gear? It can't be!"

"You knew. Metal Gear is one of the most secret black projects! How did you know that?"

"… We've had a couple run-ins in the past. So that's the reason you were here at this disposal site?"

"Why else would I come to a godforsaken place like this?"

"I had heard that the Metal Gear project was scrapped."

"On the contrary, it's grown into a huge joint project between ArmsTech and ourselves. We were going to use this exercise as raw data and then proceed to mass production. If it hadn't been for the revolution…" I winced; bad move on the terminology while in character, but still, I appreciated that he cared.

"Revolution?" Snake echoed.

"REX has fallen into the hands of terrorists…" Octopus continued, shrugging off his terminology slippage.

"REX?"

Octopus turned around and continued, "Metal Gear REX. The codename for the new Metal Gear prototype. They're probably already finished arming the warhead they plan to use with REX. These guys are pros. They're all experienced in handling and equipping nuclear weapons-"

"Hey! Shuddup in there, will ya?" a guard cut in. Snake had darted out of sight faster than I could process. Octopus nodded, the guard nodded, and once the guard was out of sight, Octopus turned back to Snake.

"But I thought that all nuclear warheads were equipped with safety measures," Snake mentioned, "Some kind of detonation code that you have to input…"

"Oh, you mean PAL," Octopus said, "Yes, of course, there is a PAL. It's set up so that you need to input two different passwords in order to launch the device."

"There are two passwords?"

"Yes. Baker knows one, and I know one," Octopus replied.

"Baker? The president of ArmsTech?"

I groaned, rolled my eyes, and looked over at Liquid, and asked, "Did you ever have a phase where you repeated obvious things over and over?"

"Thankfully, no," Liquid replied.

"That's good, because if you did, I'd have to leave you," I remarked teasingly. Right then, Octopus sat on the cot again in mock shame.

"They found out my password," Octopus 'confessed'.

"You talked?"

"Psycho Mantis can read people's minds, you can't resist!"

"Psycho Mantis?"

"One of the members of FOXHOUND. He has psychic powers." Snake turned away.

"… This is bad," Snake stated.

"It's just a matter of time before they get Baker's too."

"If they find out Baker's password…"

"Yes, they'll be able to launch a nuke anytime. But… There _is _a way to stop the launch."

"What?"

"The card keys."

"Card keys?"

"They were designed by ArmsTech, the system developers, as an emergency override. Even without the passwords, you can just insert the card keys and engage the safety lock."

"And if I do that…?"

"Yes, you can stop the launch."

"So where are the card keys?"

"Baker should have them. Listen: you need three card keys. There are three different slots to put them in. You need to insert a card into each one of them."

"Okay, three card keys." I resisted the urge to smash my head into the table. "Do you know where they might be keeping Baker?"

"Somewhere in the second floor basement."

"Second-floor basement…"

"I heard the guard say they moved him to an area that has a lot of electronic jamming."

"Any other clues?"

"Yes. They cemented over the entrances, but didn't have enough time to paint them. Why don't you look for the areas where the walls are a different color?" Octopus reached into his back pocket and handed Snake a key card. "Here, take this. It's my ID card. It'll open any level-1 security door." Snake nodded and stowed the card away.

"Okay, I'm gonna get you out of here," Snake declared, but Octopus had other ideas.

"Wait a minute."

"What is it?" Octopus paused for a second.

"You haven't heard of any other way to disarm the PAL, have you? From your bosses or anyone?" Octopus asked.

"… No," Snake answered.

"Are you _sure _you haven't heard anything?" Octopus pressed.

"I just _said _no," Snake snapped back.

"So, does the White House plan to give in to the terrorists' demands?"

"That's their problem. It has nothing to do with my orders."

"But… what about the Pentagon?"

"Pentagon?" Before either of them could ask any more questions, Octopus's eyes visibly widened and he made a choking sound, doubling over in pain. His body began to spasm, I could see his entire being was wracked with pain. I could hear Octopus choke out something like 'Why?' as he continued to struggle. My eyes widened to twice their size; he was having a heart attack. My questions were the same as his. Why? Why was this happening? He was perfectly fine, smoking aside, _what was going on? _

Liquid looked just as panicked as I was, maybe even more so. Octopus began to lose the strength in his legs, falling forward and grabbing onto Snake for support. Snake was just as panicked as we were. Octopus clawed at Snake's sneaking suit desperately, but it wouldn't do him any good. The strength completely disappeared from Octopus's body, and he fell backwards. He hit the floor, twitched a few times, and then was perfectly still.

Liquid and I just stared in complete and utter horror at the screen, unable to move, unable to speak, unable to really process anything that had just happened. Octopus was dead. My comrade of several years had just died of a random heart attack. … This wasn't even something I _wanted _to process. After about a minute, Liquid was able to shakily turn off the audio link. I reached for Naomi's note and unfolded it, hoping to find the answers in there… I did.

"… What just happened?" Liquid asked, his voice trembling. My eyes were frozen wide as I read Naomi's note over and over.

"I think I have the answer here," I said, feeling detached from my own voice. I then began to read Naomi's note out loud.

_"Ferishteh. Before I start, I just want to say that I'm sorry. I didn't want to do this, and I really believed in you guys. I wanted you to succeed. But, they threatened Frank, and I panicked. There's no excuse, really, especially when you all trusted me. But if you can find it somewhere in your heart to forgive me- no, I don't even deserve that. You see, the Patriots cornered me a few months ago. They forced me to create a virus that would target specific people and would simulate a heart attack. The targets were FOXHOUND, the DARPA chief and the ArmsTech president. I made a few last minute changes to the list, but that was the core of it. I called it FOXDIE. Cruel title, I know. They're going to inject it into Solid Snake as the carrier. I tried to give you guys a fighting chance when I made it, putting in a few bugs and making it so things like your tranquilizers and Mantis's gas mask will diffuse it, but it still has an eighty-five percent chance of working. The only surefire way you won't get infected is if you're more than three feet away from Solid Snake. You're allowed to hate me for this, for not standing up to them, for doing this for selfish reasons. I just want you to know that I never wanted to. Naomi." _

Her name had been blurred by a drop of water when this note was written. I don't think anyone needed to guess to figure out where that drop had come from. I wasn't even looking at Liquid now, just staring at my lap. I wasn't mad at Naomi for making the virus. I don't think I ever would be. But… it was more what it represented. The Patriots made her create this _months _ago. We thought we were defying them, but they knew all along. They had a countermeasure. They were _prepared_.

I was about to go on in my mind, when I heard a small, nervous chuckle. I looked over at Liquid; his head was in his hand, and his body was rippling with small, uncontrollable laughs. If you didn't see the hopeless, sad grin on his face, you would think he was sobbing. Suddenly the laughter got louder, and Liquid bent over a little more. It got even louder as he gripped his head in both hands. I almost wanted to move away from him, this laughter was that disturbing. But it got even worse. Liquid stood up straight, threw his head back, and let his arms dangle somewhat outstretched by his sides, laughing louder than I had ever heard before. It wasn't joyous, it was cold, empty and hopeless laughter. All I could do was stare.

The revelation of FOXDIE had been the very last straw.

Liquid had, for the first time ever, _cracked_.

He continued to laugh for several minutes before his laughter faded back the way it came, decreasing in volume and intensity until Liquid was just staring at the ceiling with that disturbingly hopeless grin on his face. That soon fell, and Liquid let his shoulders sink while hanging his head. He just stood there in silence for a little bit more. All I could really do was stare at him. That had to have been the most unnerving and disturbing thing I had ever seen, and it had come from my own fiancée.

Right as I thought that, Liquid whispered mostly to himself, "We planned everything. The plan would go just fine, and nobody would die. He would've gotten everything done _for _us, and we would've won. They knew. They _knew_…" I got up and walked over to Liquid, reaching out to him, but he quickly drew me into a crushing embrace. I was a little surprised- especially since he was holding onto me very _very _tightly- but I quickly got over it and embraced him back, rubbing his back in an effort to console Liquid and maybe even myself.

In a burst of optimism, I murmured, "We'll find a way to loop around FOXDIE, James. I know we will…" I barely believed my own words, but all the same, I wanted to know… _Could_ we find a way?


	24. Chapter 24: Vigilant Watch

_LAST TIME, Snake showed up, Wolf watched Snake/listened in on his conversations (much to the NERD RAEG of some people), Wolf criticized Liquid's accent-skillz, Octopus caught the dead, Chekov- I MEAN NAOMI'S Note finally got opened, and Liquid temporarily turned into the Joker. I'm also going to report that the novelization has become my primary mode of reference for the fighting and sneaking scenes, since all walkthroughs I find aren't thorough enough/cut off before the parts I need. … I'm also gonna cop some dialogue from the Ocelot boss fight in the novelization, since I really love the lines he has there~ He sounds so badass~ I really don't have anything else to say besides the fact that this will be LONG. I own nothing, let's roll._

_**-Vigilant Watch-**_

I looked over my shoulder to the other side of the room with a somewhat helpless gaze; several minutes after Liquid had cracked and we hugged, he had retreated into the corner of the surveillance room and was sitting slouched over in another chair. It seemed that all his mental and emotional processes had figuratively shut down for the time being, which was understandable, considering the circumstances. Still, it wasn't very good for my morale. I turned back to the screens. Our little episode had taken up somewhere from ten to twenty minutes, and in that time Snake had managed to temporarily meet up with Meryl and get psyched out by Mantis. Now, he was on his way to find Baker.

As I watched Snake arrive in the Second Floor Basement and go into the armory just outside the elevator, I briefly glanced at the huge security cameras mounted on the walls and smirked; it was a good thing Liquid had these small observation cameras installed in hard-to-find places, otherwise Snake would be blasting them left and right (and I wouldn't have a show to watch). It was only sheer luck that nobody had figured out I was monitoring their Codec calls. That probably wouldn't last long, but if it _did _last long… that'd just be depressing.

Snake hugged the wall as he made his way through the armory; his every gesture indicated his suspicion of the room. I frowned just a bit, the lack of guards probably had something to do with that. Snake stopped for a little bit, then after several seconds Snake jumped over a small section of the floor with a running start. I furrowed my eyebrows, Snake must've seen something I didn't catch, maybe the faint outlines of a trapdoor or something else he was trained to see… It didn't matter, really. Snake now had access to the closest pillbox, and after swiping Octopus's PAN card he went inside. There weren't any cameras inside the pillboxes in the armory, so I waited until he came back out. He took a little while, probably grabbing several other weapons and ammunition to go with them while he was inside. I narrowed my eyes; first he indirectly- and directly- kills my comrades, then he steals our stuff. Just great.

Snake repeated the process of jumping over a trapdoor on his way to the next pillbox, then looted that one as well. He repeated this process until he got to the end of the room, where he was faced with an unpainted concrete wall. Snake was perfectly prepared for this, it seemed. Snake briefly consulted Campbell on this course of action before placing some C4 on the middle of the wall, flicked the switch on, then moved back behind one of the pillboxes. He waited a few brief seconds before detonating the bomb, letting off a loud explosion; I winced a bit as thunderous explosions from years not too far behind me harmonized with it in the outermost edges of my mind.

Light shone behind the thick clouds of smoke and dust around the hole Snake created, and the silhouette of one of our soldiers appeared. Another one soon joined him. They were playing it safe enough, peering out from behind the wall, but that didn't save them from Snake. Snake pulled the trigger twice on his suppressed SOCOM, and they both went down like cinderblocks. Funny, he was killing with so much purpose. He hadn't even known he was killing Octopus. … It wasn't healthy for me to keep thinking about that, but what else _could _I think about?

Snake hugged the wall near the opening he had created- just in case more guards were coming to see what all the commotion was- and when the coast was clear he slipped into the next room. I followed him, rolling over to the next monitor. I quirked an eyebrow; Snake had waltzed right into where Baker was being held. The bald man was bound to a central pillar in the room, and he looked to be nearly dead.

I turned on the audio link just as Snake wondered, "Am I too late?" Right then, almost like he was answering Snake's question, Baker coughed up a bit of blood and twitched just a bit. I nearly jumped at how sudden it was.

"He's alive…" Snake observed, "You're the ArmsTech president, Kenneth Baker, right?" Baker managed a small nod, and Snake began to approach him.

"Don't worry, I'm here to save you," Snake continued.

The soldier reached out to one of the cables keeping Baker in place, but immediately Baker exclaimed, "No! Don't touch it!" Snake slowly moved his hand away, but right then he noticed exactly why Baker had requested such a counterproductive course of action. C4. The wires were all connected to C4 charges on pillars around the room; if Snake touched them, Baker would be blown to crap. I smirked; quite the interesting tactic, I had to figure out if Ocelot came up with it himself. And then, a bullet flew just past Snake's head, burying itself in the wall. Immediately Snake turned to the source of the bullet.

I couldn't help but smile; Ocelot was leaning on one of the pillars, twirling that revolver of his around, just like he always did and always would. "Right! Touch that wire and the C4 will blow up along with the old man!" Snake narrowed his eyes in disdain, and I just prayed that Ocelot didn't get too close to him.

"So you're the one that the boss keeps talking about," Ocelot continued.

"And you?" Snake asked in return.

"Special Operations FOXHOUND," Ocelot answered, taking a long pause to spin his revolver around some more, "Revolver Ocelot." Baker let out a pained groan to break up the fifteen seconds of silence that followed.

Ocelot walked out into the open; "I've been waiting for you, Solid Snake. Now we'll see if the man can live up to the legend." Immediately the two of them drew their guns on each other, each in very different styles, but didn't shoot. I had to say, for all of Snake's aptitude in the stealth and general skill department, he certainly lacked flair. Ocelot and Snake stared each other down for a few seconds before Ocelot retracted his gun with a flourish and Snake lowered his in response.

"This is the greatest handgun ever made," Ocelot began, turning away and reloading his weapon (inwardly, I groaned; he gave me the same speech about his gun when we first met and I asked him about his choice in weaponry), "The Colt Single Action Army. Six bullets, more than enough to kill anything that moves." He thrust the gun into the holster by his side; the glove had been thrown. Both men stared each other down yet again, both of their gun-hands ready for the quick-draw. I let my eyebrows go up a bit; Ocelot _lived _for the moments when his enemies would play along in his little cowboy-game.

The wait was only several seconds, a minute at most, but it felt like _ages. _Damn suspense, I could actually feel myself inching closer and closer to the edge of my seat. I found myself wondering who would draw and shoot first, who would win the gunfight, and whether or not Snake would get close enough to infect Ocelot with FOXDIE. I really _had _to-

"Draw!" I jumped when Ocelot said that, and both of them drew their weapons faster than I could process. Snake jumped to the left to perform a body roll, and Ocelot fired a shot; the bullet soared right over Snake's left shoulder, and before Snake hit the ground he fired off three shots of his own. The soldier hit the floor with his arm, rolled, and landed on his feet in a crouching position. The three rounds barely missed both Baker and Ocelot, hitting the pillar right behind Ocelot and ricocheting off into the unimportant space. They only missed Ocelot because he had fearlessly jerked only his head out of the way, completely unperturbed.

Ocelot had already fired two rounds by that point, and they both barely grazed Snake's ribcage. Snake dove behind a pillar for cover, removed the suppressor from his SOCOM, then swung back out and fired. Ocelot had taken cover by that point, so that shot was ultimately a wasted shot.

"The challenge of a duel, for me, is reloading during battle. It's a risky thing to do, taking the time, making yourself vulnerable for those few seconds," Ocelot remarked from his hiding place as the cylinder snapped shut. "Hear that, Snake? Such a beautiful sound, the sound of impending death." Ocelot went on about the smell of cordite, and I was being called back to Apocalypse Now for some reason or another. Snake shot out a light bulb above a stack of crates, darkening one area of the room that he soon darted into, dodging one of Ocelot's rounds as he did. Ocelot continued to crow at Snake, mocking him for hiding back there, and I agreed wholeheartedly (and hypocritically) with Ocelot. Hiding was for pussies! Right then, a steam pipe above Ocelot's head exploded from a 'gunshot wound'.

Ocelot yelped and jumped aside; "Damn you!" The Russian gunslinger quickly moved behind another pillar, though Snake was able to put a few holes in his duster. I was on the edge of my seat by this point, gripping the table in front of me so hard my knuckles had turned white. Snake then shot out another light bulb, darkening the area around Baker. That action gave away his position, and Ocelot let loose a volley of rounds that forced Snake to duck into a position where I could see him better.

"You're pretty good," Ocelot remarked, "Just what I'd expect from the man with the same code as the boss." I saw Liquid look up at that from the corner of my eye; there was a small spark there, which made me just a little less on edge.

"It's been a long time since I've had such a good fight," Ocelot continued, "But I'm just getting warmed up." Both of them finished reloading, but when they shot out from behind their cover, there was a swishing sound… And Ocelot's hand-still clutching the revolver he was so attached to- fell clean off. It actually took Ocelot a few seconds to really process that, spending those seconds just staring at his brand new stump in pure and utter shock. I was almost convinced he'd faint, just like when he was shot back in Russia.

Blood than began to gush from Ocelot's stump, and Ocelot let out a cry of pain; "What? My hand-!" The slicing didn't end there; the invisible blade cut all the cables, also cutting the pillar Baker was bound to in half. That half nearly fell on Ocelot, but he managed to get out of the way. The small explosion right afterwards launched Ocelot and Baker several feet across the room, but Snake was unharmed since he was just able to duck back behind his cover. Right then, several bolts of electricity zapped around a human-shaped figure to reveal Grey Fox standing there. I scowled; so, he found his way back here again. Ocelot was able to roll over to his hand and point the revolver right at Grey Fox's glowing red eye.

"Can't you even _die _right?" Ocelot demanded, getting to his feet. "You were lucky. We'll meet again!" Ocelot then ducked out of the room, leaving Snake alone with Grey Fox. Immediately Snake swung out from behind his cover, gun raised.

"Who are you?" Snake demanded. Grey Fox slowly turned to Snake, lowering his sword just a bit.

"I'm like you, I have no name," Grey Fox said in his metallic, electronic voice. Right then, more bolts of electricity surrounded his body, and Grey Fox let out another agonizing cry; he writhed around in pain for a few seconds before he dropped to his knees, breathing heavily. He turned to Snake, bloodlust in that one eye. Immediately he leapt at Snake faster than I could process, sword raised. He sliced the pillar closest to Snake clean in half, but Snake was just able to get out of the way and aim at Grey Fox. He fired at the cyborg ninja, but Grey Fox either deflected the bullets with his blade or dodged. He leapt into the air, Snake firing after him, then shot back down and swung for Snake's head; he just _barely _dodged, and fired again. Grey Fox dodged effortlessly and kicked Snake in the chest, sending him skidding back a few feet.

Grey Fox leapt into the air and cut out a section of the ceiling, kicking one of the large pieces of debris towards Snake as he fell back down. Snake dodged in a maneuver I could barely call realistic, and in a series of moves too fast for me to accurately process, Snake and Grey Fox ended up with each other's weapons at their throats. All was silent, besides the crackling of flames and pained groans from Baker. It stayed like this for several seconds before Grey Fox stepped back, lowering his sword. Snake didn't lower his gun for a few seconds, but when he was about to, Grey Fox activated his stealth camo and leapt out of the room. Snake stood there for a second, obviously trying to process what just happened.

"Who the Hell…?" Snake let himself trail off, then looked over to Baker. The CEO had crawled a little farther away and was looking up at the spectacle, still groaning in pain. The man must've been scared out of his wits, but really, I couldn't find the basic sympathy to care. I mean, this was _Baker_ we were talking about. He had ice in his veins. Snake made his way over to the corrupt corporate executive.

"Can you talk?" Snake asked.

"Who are you?" Baker managed to ask.

"I'm not one of them." Snake managed to drag Baker over to the nearest wall and lean him against it so he was sitting up. "The DARPA chief told me he gave them his detonation code, what about yours?"

"Oh, I get it. Jim sent you. You're from the Pentagon." I furrowed my eyebrows; Jim _fucking _Houseman, of course.

"Answer my question. What about your code? There's no time!"

"I… I talked." This did _not _sit well with Snake. He looked like he wanted to punch Baker's lights out.

"What? Now the terrorists have both codes! Do you realize what this means? They can launch a nuke anytime they want!" I winced a little bit; I knew the stakes were high, but really, did he have to get that angry? Ocelot put that man through the ringer, even though he was a complete slime ball you had to give him at least that much.

"It's not like I didn't fight, I managed to resist Psycho Mantis's mind probe with the surgical implants in my brain, kind of like psychic insulation. Everyone who knows the codes has them."

"Even the DARPA chief?"

"Yes."

"But Anderson said Psycho Mantis got the code from him. How can that be?" I winced again; gah, Octopus! … I couldn't be angry with him. He was dead. I didn't have the right to be angry with him.

Baker shook his head, confused. "I… I don't know."

"Anyway, how did they get your code?"

"I… I never had any training on how to resist torture." Baker coughed again, close enough to death that I could almost see the reaper beside him with his scythe held high.

Snake crouched down in front of Baker. "Listen to me. Okay, so the terrorists have both codes. But what about the card keys? The ones that override the detonation code? Do you have them?"

"Not anymore. I gave them to the girl… There was a soldier, a young girl. She arrived at the facility recently, I trusted her… I gave them to her. They threw her in prison because she didn't join the revolt. Looks like she escaped, though. I hope she's alright."

"I'm sure she is. She's green, but she's as tough as they come. How did you know she escaped?"

"I was in contact with her by Codec- until I was tied up down here, that is."

"Codec? What frequency was she at?"

"Let's see… I think it's one-four-zero-point-one-five. Or it was… I hope they haven't caught her."

"Tell me, if the keys don't work, is there another way to stop the launch?" Baker nodded and coughed again.

"You have to find one of my employees, Hal Emmerich. He's the team leader if the Metal Gear REX project, a genius at engineering but a little bit of an oddball." I let myself smile; that described Hal pretty well. "If there's anyone who can figure out how to stop Metal Gear from launching, it's him."

"Where is he? How do I find him?"

"Well, he's probably being held somewhere in the Nuclear Warhead Storage Building. Its north from here, that's where he worked."

"I understand, but… why Metal Gear? The nuclear age ended with the turn of the millennium."

"You're wrong, the nuclear threat hasn't disappeared-" I turned off the audio link. I had a feeling that this wasn't going to be a fun thing to watch, let alone listen to. The surveillance room was plunged into silence, besides the occasional whine from Berthold as he sat beside Liquid, nudging him with his nose and trying to bring him back to reality. I looked over my shoulder once more at Liquid, but nothing had changed. I frowned and got to my feet; I'd make it change.

"Liquid, look at me," I demanded. He turned almost all the way around, looking at me with blank green eyes. I nearly lost my resolve, but I knew I couldn't do that.

I let out a breath and said, "Liquid, this isn't you. You don't just… shut down because of one failure. Granted, this wasn't exactly a small failure, but that can't matter in the moment! Look, if you've taught me anything, it's that when things are happening you can't just stop. Time doesn't stop just because you want it to. You have to keep going, keep moving. You have to restrategize, try again, you can't stop! When your father died, time stopped for me. I gave up on thinking, on feeling, on everything. But you brought me out of it, because no matter what that _never_ happened to you. And it can't happen to you now! Yes, Octopus is dead. Yes, _they _were one step ahead of us. But right now, we're trying to make history. Do you think Octopus would want you to just shut down? No! So- Goddammit- get up! Keep trying! Keep going! Don't stop, fight! But most importantly, make sure that nobody else gets killed by that virus! If any of us go down fighting- die like heroes, for what we believe in, then that sucks, but it happened, and it can't be changed. We can be honored and mourned later. But we will _not _go down like lambs to the slaughter, and the only way that can happen is if you get a grip! Now, do I have to take over for you, or are you going to get up and keep going?"

Liquid stared at me with wide eyes for several seconds, probably a little shocked by the fact I had made that all up on the spot. In fact, so was I. But nothing less would've brought Liquid back. After those seconds past, Liquid got up from his chair and smiled at me. I could see it in his eyes; my speech had worked.

"You're right, Wolf," Liquid said, "I actually feel rather stupid for not realizing all that myself."

I shook my head and replied, "No, no, it's fine. Sometimes our emotions get the best of us." Liquid nodded, then closed the distance between us and wrapped his arms around my waist. I leaned into him, and he pressed his forehead to mine.

"Thank you, Wolf. For pulling me out of my slump like that," Liquid murmured.

"I'm your fiancée, that's my job," I chuckled. I softly kissed him before going back to my seat and turning the audio link back on. Liquid stood next to me, like he had before and planned to do so in the future.

"In other words, there's plenty of available nuclear material and scientists for making a bomb," Baker stated. "We live in an age where any small country can have a nuclear weapons program-" I turned the audio link off again.

"What was that?" Liquid wondered, turning to me with a confused expression.

"He's obviously going on and on about things we don't care about," I deadpanned, "I'm not going to listen to that."

"What else are we going to do in here?" Liquid argued. … And then the obvious came to mind.

"Do you think we could-"

"I suddenly find what Baker's talking about immensely interesting," I declared, turning on the audio link.

"Oh come on-"

"This place doesn't exactly have the best mood for those kinds of activities," I snapped, shooting Liquid down a second time. Liquid settled for just pouting at me.

"Frankly, I don't give a crap about your company," Snake remarked.

"That's just about what I'd expect from a grunt like you," Baker said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out an optic disk, "Here. This is what you came for, right?"

"What's that?"

"An optical disk. It's all here. The main hard drive was destroyed by gunfire; this is the only remaining copy of the data."

"What kind of data?"

"All the data collected from this exercise. Don't play dumb, I know you were sent to get this. I hid it from that sadistic maniac when he was torturing me. They don't know this disk exists, make sure that you report this to Jim, to your boss. I'll give you my card, too." Baker then handed Snake a PAN card. "It'll open up all security level-2 doors." Snake paused for a bit before crouching down to Baker's level again.

"Can you walk?"

"… No. You go on without me. They got my password, they don't want anything else from me."

"I have one more question. Who- or _what_- was that ninja thing? It looked like you knew something."

"That ninja? That was FOXHOUND's dark little secret." I frowned; more like Dr. Clarke's secret. That wasn't something we'd ever do to Grey Fox. "An experimental… Genome… Soldier-" Baker coughed violently; Liquid and I turned to each other- it was pretty damn obvious what was coming next.

"You know him?"

"You should ask Dr. Naomi Hunter, she knows better than I."

"Naomi?"

"You have to stop them- if it goes public, ArmsTech is finished!"

"Why? Metal Gear uses currently existing technology, doesn't it?"

"Sure, Metal Gear does… but…" He coughed more, and blood oozed out of his mouth. Suddenly his body spasmed and his eyes rolled into the back of his head; the executive let out a painful groan.

"Wha-?" Snake exclaimed.

"No! It… can't… be!" Baker choked out, writhing in pain.

"What's happening?"

"Those… Pentagon… bastards! They went… and… did it!"

"What are you talking about?"

"They're _using _you to… to…" Baker's body trembled violently one last time, then he stiffened. With a final exhalation, he slumped against the wall. Snake felt for a pulse, but he found none. Baker was dead.

"… Am I the only one a little happy about that?" I wondered.

"You're a sick woman," Liquid remarked.

"And you're a sick man. We match," I shot back. The radio crackled to life as Snake made a Codec call.

"Colonel, are you listening? Now _he's _dead too!" Snake exclaimed.

"… I have no idea," Campbell muttered.

"Don't lie to me!" Snake demanded.

Naomi cut in with, "It looked like another heart attack, but…"

"Some kind of poison?"

"Maybe. There are lots of poisons that simulate a heart attack, but we won't know unless we do an autopsy."

"Damn! … Naomi, what was that ninja-thing? A member of FOXHOUND?"

"No…"

"Are you sure?"

"We have no-one like that in our unit."

Campbell cut in this time; "Snake, I want you and Meryl to work together."

"Can I trust _her?_" Snake asked with as much sarcasm as he could muster.

"More than you can trust me."

"That's what I figured. Look, Colonel, I don't know what's going on and I can see that you're not about to tell me. But something _smells_ about this mission, and it's not the mouse droppings I keep crawling over." Campbell's silence was all we needed to hear. The conversation cut off.

"I wonder if he normally gets jerked around this easily," I commented.

"In a line of work where asking questions isn't really necessary, I'd give that a 'yes'," Liquid replied with a light shrug. Snake took a few seconds, probably studying some kind of map, then left the room, going back up to the first floor basement. There was too much electronic jamming for him to accurately contact Meryl in the room Baker was in. He accessed her frequency, then waited for her to pick up. The crackling of the radio informed us that he was successful.

Immediately a young woman's voice- Meryl's voice- asked, "Who are you?"

"You're the colonel's niece, Meryl, right?" Snake asked, ignoring her question entirely.

"Answer my question."

"I'm called Solid Snake."

"You don't say? The legendary Solid Snake?"

"That's right. I'm working for your uncle."

"I figured he'd send someone, but I didn't think it would be you. I thought you'd retired."

"I _am _retired. I'm just doing this for fun."

"Your family has an odd idea of fun," I remarked.

"That was you before? In the cell block?" Meryl asked, keeping things moving.

"Uh-huh."

"Well, sorry about running out on you. I didn't know _who _the heck you were. I didn't want to take the chance that you were one of the bad guys. You look like-"

"I know. Where are you now?"

"I'm in the belly of the security system. I'm _this _close to figuring out how to hot-wire the hangar's cargo door. It's got a Level Five security lock on it. No one has a Level Five clearance except for the terrorists. I assume you want to get to the other buildings?" I glanced over at one of the monitors; sure enough, a female soldier was crouched in front of a control panel. That must've been our girl.

"That's affirmative."

"Then you'll need my help. You'll never get that door open by yourself."

"I don't know; I'm pretty good with doors. I do windows, too."

"By the time you've found the security system they'll have already launched a nuke." Apparently that gave Snake some pause.

"So tell me, Meryl, what is this place, really? It's not just a nuclear disposal facility."

"Of course not. Didn't my uncle tell you _anything_?"

"Not enough, apparently."

"This place is owned and operated by an ArmsTech dummy corporation. It's a civilian base for the development of Metal Gear. Do you know what that is?"

"I'm, uhm, familiar with it."

"This was supposed to be sort of a final test. Y'know, before a formal adoption of the program by the Pentagon."

"So where are all the hostages? The facility's employees?"

"I don't know. They were rounded up and put somewhere. Some of them were interrogated, brainwashed, I don't know…"

"Baker told me he gave you three card keys that stop REX from launching. Do you have them?"

"I have _a _key. He didn't give me three."

"Really? Then what was he talking about?"

"I have no idea. But I still have the one he gave me."

"Then hang on to it. How did you manage to keep it hidden from the guards."

"Women have more hiding places than men~" I just smirked; I think I was going to like this girl.

"Do you know Doctor Emmerich?"

"Yeah, he designed the new REX. Nice guy."

"I'm going to find him. If we can't override the detonation code in time, maybe he knows how to destroy the damned thing."

"You can't take on REX by yourself!"

"I've done it before. I'll check in with you later. Get that door open for me and I'll buy you an ice cream when we get back to civilization."

"Oh boy, can't wait. Give me a few minutes. Wait for me in the hangar and I'll go with you."

"Nope. No offense, Meryl, but you don't have enough real combat experience. I want you to find a good hiding place and concentrate on not getting caught again until I've sewn this place up. Then we'll meet up and I'll get you out of here."

"Look, I'm sorry about before; you know, with my gun. I don't know what happened, I just couldn't pull the trigger right away. I never had any trouble during training, but when I thought of bullets tearing into those soldiers' bodies, I guess I just hesitated."

"Shooting at training targets and shooting at living people are very different."

Meryl let out a sigh. "Ever since I was a little girl, I dreamed about being a soldier. All my life I trained for the day I'd see some real action, and now…"

"So you want to quit?"

"I can't quit!"

"Look, Meryl. Everybody feels sick the first time they kill someone. Unfortunately, killing is one of those things that get easier the more you do it. In a war, all of mankind's worst traits and worst emotions come out. It's easy to forget what a sin is in the middle of a battlefield. You're just a little jumpy from the combat high. The adrenaline in your bloodstream is starting to thin out. Just take it easy."

"I learned all about combat high in the academy."

"We'll talk about it later. For now, just think about keeping yourself alive… and staying the hell out of my way." I frowned immediately; I was _so _glad that I was on Liquid's side instead of Snake's, Liquid at least wasn't _too much _of a dick.

"You're a real bastard. My uncle was right. Look, I know my way around this place. I could be useful."

"Sorry, I work alone. I wouldn't want anything to happen to you on your uncle's watch." I could see Meryl pull off her mask in the nearby monitor.

"Alright, Snake. I'll be a good little girl. And _maybe _I'll open the hangar cargo door for you." Snake was silent for a bit; he hadn't been ready to see _that _on her Codec monitor. She was quite a beautiful girl, I couldn't blame him.

"… What?"

"Nothing. It's just… your eyes."

"My eyes?"

"They're not soldier's eyes."

"Oh, right. _Rookie's _eyes, huh?"

"No. They're beautiful, _compassionate _eyes."

"Hmpf. Just what I'd expect from the legendary Solid Snake. You trying to sweep me off my feet?"

Snake gave her a cynical laugh. "Don't worry; you'd land right back on them as soon as you got to know me. The reality is no match for the legend. Let's link up later. _Stay put_." Snake signed off, then moved towards the elevator. He slipped into the lift, made his way up to the first floor, then left. The tank hangar was unchanged, except for one thing; one tank was missing. I smirked; Raven was obviously ready for Snake. Snake took out one remaining guard, then made his way to the cargo door. The radio crackled again; it looked like Snake wasn't the most patient man.

"What?" Meryl asked irately.

"I'm waiting," Snake 'replied'.

"Hold your horses, I've just about got it." The mechanism in the wall clicked on and whirred to life, rolling the door into the ceiling.

"Do I get a gold star?"

"I'm impressed. Can you cook, too?"

"I make a mean western omelet."

"I'll take you up on that in another time and place. Now stay put."

"Right." Snake signed off again, then started into the opening; he stopped short, then pulled out his cigarettes. I saw Liquid cringe from the corner of my eye, rolling my eyes in response. I know he hated smoking and everything that went with it, but really. Snake lit a cigarette, and as the smoke drifted out of it all the laser sensors in front of him became clear as day. I let out a 'hm' sound; I really didn't know that cigarette smoke could do that. Snake set to work immediately, running under the first laser when it was just above his head. He jumped over the next one, then just barely rolled under the one after that. The next two were too close together for Snake to traverse separately, so he had to step over them in one shot. He rolled under the next one and made it safely to the door. I raised an eyebrow; that was… wow.

"Can _you _do that?" I asked, looking over at Liquid with a small smirk.

"If I set my mind to it," Liquid replied cryptically. Right then, the radio on the other side of the room crackled to life. The radio monitor showed the local frequency of the radios on base, but since nearly all the soldiers had Codec, it was pretty easy to figure out who was trying to contact us.

"I see you've figured out that Snake is coming your way," Liquid remarked, picking up on our end.

"I figured that out quite some time ago," Raven replied through the radio.

"Your clairvoyance gets creepy sometimes," I remarked. Raven was silent for a moment.

"What exactly happened to Octopus back in the holding cell?" Raven asked. It was Liquid's turn to be silent for a moment.

"You saw that," Liquid muttered.

"My question still stands."

"… It's a complicated story, and judging from Snake's position in relation to where you're supposed to confront him, I don't really have the time to explain."

"Fine. Just know that I _will _ask you about it again at some point."

"I'll be anticipating it." Liquid signed off right then, then gave me a look. He was silently asking whether we should tell the others the truth of what had happened to Octopus and what may happen to them. Immediately I shook my head. We couldn't do that to them, who knows what Mantis would do if he found out that the Patriots had screwed him over a second time? The only person who would really be safe to tell would be Ocelot, and that was only because he probably knew beforehand through his various under the table deals with every organization under the sun. Liquid briefly looked away as he processed all of that, then let out a sigh and nodded.

And right then the Abrams Tank rolled in on the canyon monitor. Immediately I swiveled around and thanked God I had turned on the audio link during Liquid and Raven's conversation, otherwise I wouldn't have known that something crazy was going down. Raven popped out of the tank, a big black raven on his shoulder.

"This is Raven's territory! Snakes do not belong in Alaska, you shall not pass!" Raven declared. Before Snake could plan a defensive strategy, Raven turned the giant gun Snake's way and shot one of its gigantic shells his way. It blew Snake back all the way back to the door, and he smacked into it hard before sliding to the ground. I let out a sadistic chuckle. Snake got to his feet just in time to be blown forward by another blast from the tank. I beamed wide; that thing was an unstoppable juggernaut, just like its pilot.

Raven let out a maniacal cackle and proclaimed, "That's right, you belong on the ground! Crawl on the ground like the snake that you are!" Snake got to his feet right on cue. "Come, let's fight!" Raven disappeared into the tank, closing the lid and enclosing himself within the nigh-indestructible machine. And then Snake dove into the snow. I just stared at the screen… Did he _really _just do that? That was… Wow. Snake began to tunnel through the snow like some kind of giant worm with the aim to jump up and swallow the tank whole, and when he was about ten feet away from the tank's broadside he leapt out of the snow with frag grenade in hand. One of the gunners in the tank fired on a spot thirty feet away, and Snake stole the opportunity to pull the grenade's pin with his teeth and chuck it right at the gunner.

Snake immediately ran from the tank, attempting to get away from the blast, and the grenade exploded right in front of the gunner's face. It sent his lifeless rag-doll of a body flying through the air across the canyon, smashing into the rocky walls yards away from the action. A plume of black smoke arose from the tank right about where the turret was, and Raven took that opportunity to poke his head out of the tank as the cloud dissipated. He let out a few curses in his native tongue(s) before retreating back into the tank. Immediately another gunner replaced the one that had just died, firing machine-gun bullets into the snowdrifts and closing in on Snake. He leapt back into the tunnel he created, wisely putting distance between himself and the tank.

He popped up again, this time twenty-five feet away and to the South of the tank. Now Raven was also manning one of the guns alongside the new gunner, both of them blasting the snow with no mercy to speak of. Raven shouted for the gunner to find Snake, who immediately drew his SOCOM. He got into a Weaver stance and wasted no time blowing the gunner's brains out. Raven was just able to avoid another shot from Snake. Snake paused for just a second, obviously stunned by Raven's speed. That pause gave Raven ample time to swing the machine gun around to face Snake and let loose a spray of ungodly fire. Snake dove back into the snow, going deeper than ever before. It was no use, he'd be dead in no time.

And then the gunfire abruptly stopped. Immediately I furrowed my eyebrows and made a noise of confusion- why had Raven stopped shooting? Snake poked his head out of the snow, obviously wondering the same thing. We both looked over to the tank to see Raven frantically working to reload the machine gun. It made sense, with the gunners dead he had nobody to work as a loader for the monstrous gun. I gritted my teeth, now Snake had a chance! Right on cue the soldier burst out of the snow and sprinted over to the tank. He chucked another frag grenade at the treads; it exploded in due time, blowing the tread completely off its wheels and leaving it immobile.

Snake didn't waste any time delivering the final blow, racing around to the front of the tank, pulling the pin out of yet another grenade and throwing it into the barrel of the tank's main cannon. It blew the barrel wide open, sending the tank nearly onto its side. I could feel Snake smirking, even though his back was to the camera. Black smoke obscured my vision of the tank, so I was unsure if Raven had survived the blast. Immediately I tensed up at that thought, and Liquid placed a hand on my shoulder in an attempt to calm me down. I'm not really sure how much it worked. Snake strolled over to the initial gunner's corpse, apparently in the mood to loot from the dead. He rooted through his gear, taking the man's handgun, grenades and level 3 PAN card. … Okay, I wasn't sure if it was level 3, but that was the standard issue card given to the grunts, so I was making an educated guess.

Snake turned away to go into the nuclear warhead storage building, and the smoke finally cleared. Raven's upper body was poking out of the tank, and he appeared unharmed. I let out a sigh, and he held a handheld transceiver to his ear. Immediately the other radio began to crackle like flames, and Liquid answered effortlessly.

"Boss, is this alright, just _giving _him the card like that?" Raven asked.

"We'll play with him a little longer," Liquid replied, smirking almost mischievously.

"You would be wise not to underestimate him," Raven remarked.

"What did you think of him?" Liquid asked.

"He's just as you said. It's as if he's possessed by a demon, much like you. I would expect no less from your-"

"See? I told you so! But I _will _kill him," Ocelot snapped, cutting into the conversation from another channel native to Shadow Moses Island. I glanced over at the wall of monitors; it took me a little bit to find him, but eventually I located Ocelot in an unknown building, his missing hand bandaged up and the man himself probably on too many painkillers to name. I winced; I had seen Naomi try to deal with his injuries after difficult missions, dealing with that man when he was injured was one hell of a chore and I took pity on the little woman that was this base's _only_ doctor. He probably harassed the hell out of her.

"Revolver Ocelot! I understand he took your hand _and _your dignity!" Raven called, grinning wide.

"Watch your mouth, shaman!" Ocelot growled. "It was that blasted ninja that took my hand, but it was Snake who distracted me. I could outgun you anytime, with or without my right hand!" If Ocelot were in the room, Liquid would've glared at him in a way that clearly told him to shut up.

"In the language of the Sioux people-" I never understood why that word was spelled with an 'x'- "_Sioux _means 'snake'. It's known as an animal to be feared," Raven commented.

"Well Snake is _mine _now. When I meet him next, I'll take _special care _of him," Ocelot hissed.

"Not yet," Liquid cut in, "Don't kill him yet."

"The raven on my head thirsts for his blood," Raven proclaimed, "Snake and I will meet again in battle, you can be certain of that." Raven signed off, leaving Liquid, Ocelot and I on the line.

"The next several hours are going to be most interesting, eh, Ocelot?" Liquid wondered, his smirk bordering on a full grin.

"Can't we just kill him? Our plan can go on without him," Ocelot spat, not thinking clearly at all. .

"Not yet, my friend. I still have plans for him."

"Why do you let him live?"

Liquid's eyes flared. "I have my reasons."


	25. Chapter 25: Huntress's Prey

_LAST TIME, Snake did epic shit, Wolf continued to hate on him while giving epic speeches, Liquid stopped having a Heroic BSOD (mostly), FOXDIE was all like LOL N00B and killed Baker, and that chapter was obscenely long. GET READY FOR MORE OF THAT XDD Well, let's get going~! I own nothing, not Metal Gear Solid, not the novelization (MAH LAWD AND SAVIOR), not the chair I'm sitting in, and not the house I'm in while typing this. LET'S ROLL._

_**-Huntress's Prey-**_

Liquid shut off the radio and turned back to me. I just shrugged; I really didn't have any place in that discussion, so I didn't have anything to say. I turned to the screens again, turning the link off in the canyon and turning to the main level of the nuclear warhead storage building. Briefly Naomi and Campbell warned Snake that using his weapons was a suicidal idea before Snake slid into the room through a small opening between the inner door and the ground. I briefly scanned the sheer amount of guards stationed in this area; I couldn't count them all, and therefore I concluded that I was marrying the most paranoid man in the world.

Snake quickly pulled the pin out of a chaff grenade and rolled it not quite into the center of the room, the small explosive landing between two insulated tanks marked 'Hazardous'. The chaff grenade exploded, sending the guards into a frenzy; Snake took the opportunity to slide all the way inside and hide inside a nearby cardboard box. I saw Liquid smirk out of the corner of my eye; the 'Snake'-family had quite the penchant for boxes, and it seemed that neither of them were an exception to that rule.

Snake waited until all the guards had passed him by before getting out of the box and making his way over to the elevator; he was able to bypass the security cameras since the chaff grenade had scrambled their circuitry, and I was just glad that our observation cameras hadn't been affected. Snake narrowly avoided a guard on his way there, then threw another chaff grenade as yet another diversion right after pushing the call button. He was able to slip into the elevator just before anyone realized where the grenades were coming from. He quickly made his way down to the first floor basement.

The first thing he did when he reached the B1 level was shoot down a surveillance camera pointed right at the elevator. He slipped into the hall and searched a mostly-empty office, picking up a Nikita missile launcher down there. I frowned at the sight of the bulky weapon; I couldn't count how many times people I thought I was going to engage in a good, clean sniper battle used the remote controlled missiles to nearly blow my head off.

Snake searched the room for anything else he could use, but didn't find much (just some ammo and a gas mask) and left for the second floor basement. The elevator stopped on the B2 floor, and Snake made his way through the first two rooms and into the largest room of the basement. It was filled with sarin nerve gas, and immediately Snake donned the gas mask; I pouted, I had wanted to see Snake suffer from the effects of the chemical weapon. Snake was about to start off down the corridor, but immediately he got a Codec call from an undeterminable frequency.

"Snake! Don't move!" I had to hold down a gasp; Grey Fox…! How… How was he talking normally? Why didn't he sound like he did the last time we saw him? What- Why- who? … Apparently he did have enough strength left to muster up some vestiges of his old self, which made this all the worse. Frank… I wondered how Rat would've reacted, seeing the man she loved in this sorry state.

"You again?" Snake muttered; I furrowed my eyebrows- sounded like Fox had contacted Snake in the few times we weren't paying attention.

"Don't take another step! The floor in front of you is electrified!" Fox exclaimed.

"Terrific. What am I supposed to do?"

"You'll need to turn off the electricity."

"Okay, want to tell me where the circuit breaker is?"

"Unfortunately, it's at the end of the hallway in front of you."

"Oh, well that's convenient isn't it?"

"Look at the corridor. At the end, it jogs to the left. See?"

"Uh-huh."

"It then doubles back, parallel to the wall on your left side."

"Okay, so it's U-shaped."

"The high-voltage switchboard is at the end of that part of the hall."

"So do I blow a hole in this wall with a grenade? Will that work?"

"No. It's too thick. Even a Claymore mine won't help you. You'll have to use a remote-controlled missile." Snake nodded to himself, knowing how convenient this situation had become. Snake loaded the Nikita and set its flight path on the remote radar screen, but he paused when he had to punch a figure in for the proposed range.

"Uhm, Deepthroat?" My eyes widened, and I looked over to Liquid. He had a similar expression. We both wondered what the _hell _Fox was thinking choosing that as an alias, but we'd probably never get an answer.

"Yes, Snake?"

"Do you know how many meters it is from me to the switchboard?"

"Sorry, Snake. I don't have a clue." Snake proceeded to estimate the range, and once he had everything precisely calculated he flipped off the safety and set the missile launcher against his shoulder. He let out a breath, then fired. The missile shot out of the gun, soared down the hall and around to smash into the circuit breaker. The explosion rocked the entire floor, and once it was over Snake cautiously took the gas mask off. He made sure that the floor wasn't electrified, then made his way down the hall. He abandoned the Nikita back at the door, obviously not wanting to lug the huge thing around. Well, that made certain that Snake wouldn't try to cheat when we fought and use the Nikita.

I looked over at the monitor focusing on the corridor just outside Hal's lab. Six troopers stood there, and the squad leader was looking over his shoulder into the lab. He was obviously suspicious, none of the troopers really liked the scientists here for some reason or another. I couldn't read their lips, since they had their masks on, and nothing much seemed to be happening there… And then one of them got their arm sliced clean off.

Before I could even gasp at how sudden that was, the top of that same man's skull slipped off his head on a diagonal split. My eyes darted around the area; there wasn't anyone- _Grey Fox_. He was here, and he had lost what little sanity he had when he called Snake. The soldier's knees buckled, and he fell to the floor alongside that one half of his head. Immediately the soldiers began to fire their FAMAS rifles wildly about the corridor, bullets flying everywhere you could imagine but not hitting a single thing.

I turned on the audio link just in time to hear the sounds of a blade slicing the air and flesh-and-blood appendages. Following that were screams. Immediately Liquid leaned in with a confused and frustrated expression.

"What the-?"

"It's Grey Fox," I answered quickly. "He's in there, nobody else could do this."

"Damn it," Liquid growled under his breath, clenching his hands into fists. I remained silent as Fox mercilessly slaughtered our men. None of them stood a chance, though one tried to attack him and failed miserably. It happened so quickly that I barely realized that it was over when it was indeed over. I tried to remember to breath; all the questions I had already asked about Fox and millions more raced through my mind, but I kept them condensed in the back of my mind as Snake carefully made his way into the hall to behold the carnage before him. His back was to the camera, so I couldn't see his reaction to this. It was probably one of mildly agitated confusion, that was almost his permanent expression. He stepped over puddles of blood and made his way to the door, opening it with his security card.

I looked over to the next monitor to see Hal on the floor with his back against a pair of lockers, trembling all over with dark eyes wide in terror as he stared up at something that wasn't there; Grey Fox was right in front of him, stealth camo glimmering in and out of visible mode as the warrior brandished his Japanese sword. Quickly I switched audio links; I had to know why Fox was antagonizing poor, defenseless Hal.

"No, please! Don't hurt me!" Hal cried. I found myself wanting to say the same thing, though with a few words switched around here and there. Hal didn't deserve this, he wasn't a soldier, he wasn't standing in Fox's way!

"Where is my friend?" Fox demanded.

"I… I don't know! Please don't kill me!" the engineer begged, close to tears of fright.

"Don't move!" Snake shouted, standing with the SOCOM in both hands and pointed at Grey Fox, the cyborg turning to focus his one crimson eye on Snake. "Drop the sword and back away from the nerd. Do it nice and easy." I could tell that Grey Fox was smirking at Snake, even though his face was hidden.

"Ah, excellent. I've been waiting for you," Fox said in his metallic voice. It was jarring, hearing that after hearing his normal voice.

"Just who the Hell are you?" Snake demanded, glaring at Fox with that same expression of mildly annoyed confusion.

Fox brandished the sword in front of him and replied, "Neither enemy nor friend. I've returned from a world where such words are meaningless." I could see Snake squint at the cyborg; was he _finally _catching on that this man was his former friend, the 'friend' he had punched into a landmine himself?

"I've removed all obstacles," Fox continued, "The path is clear to me now. You and I must fight to the death." Snake didn't take any chances, shooting at Fox only for him to bat the bullet away harmlessly with a lightning-fast swing of his sword.

"Pathetic! There's no honor in that weapon!" Fox declared, distaste in his voice.

"What do you want?" Snake demanded further.

"I've waited a long time for this day. Now I want to savor the moment," Fox replied.

Hal continued to shake and whimper as he watched the two warriors before him; "Wh-what's with these guys? It's like one of my Japanese animes…" I decided that I wouldn't even touch that comment.

The man that used to be Frank Jaeger continued to speak in riddles. "I've come from another world to do battle with you."

"What is this about?" Snake questioned. "Revenge?"

Fox shook his head; "It is nothing so trivial as revenge. A fight to the death with you… only in that can my soul find respite. I will kill you, or you will kill me. Either way, it makes no difference." Hal apparently couldn't handle any more of this, taking the nearest opening to bolt into the locker behind him and peek out through the slits in the door.

"Ah, fine," the ninja said, "Let him watch from his perch."

"I need that man, keep your hands off him," Snake growled.

"Yes, that's the spirit," Fox hissed. "Make me _feel _it! Make me feel _alive _again!" With that, Grey Fox disappeared. Snake immediately fired at the space in front of him, but Grey Fox sliced the rounds out of the air.

The cyborg ninja appeared several feet away; "That weapon is useless against me! Haven't you learned anything?"

Snake frowned; "Apparently not." Immediately he switched to spray fire and emptied the magazine, not a single round hitting the intended target. Then Fox dropped his sword.

"This is futile! Let us fight as warriors. Hand to hand, the basis of all combat. Only a fool trusts his life to a weapon such as that," Fox declared. I hugged the PSG-1 to me defensively.

Snake reluctantly holstered his gun; "Whatever." He got into a fighting stance, markedly not a CQC stance. I had heard in various briefings about him that he refused to use that fighting style because he didn't want to honor the 'traitor' that developed it.

And the fight commenced.

Fox attacked in the blink of an eye with a double-jumping roundhouse kick that knocked Snake to the floor, but Snake was not so easily deterred; he rolled out of the way as Fox tried to repeat that maneuver, then got to his feet to dodge yet another roundhouse kick. Fox double jumped again and smashed his foot into Snake's face, sending the operative crashing backwards into some of the electronics in the room and causing an eruption of sparks. Snake recovered quickly, and Fox performed another double-jump; well, he _would _have done that if Snake hadn't leapt at him in the split second between the two jumps and delivered a punch-punch-kick combo that connected hard and violently.

Grey Fox recoiled, dazed and confused by this turn of events, but Snake didn't let his opponent recover. He hit him with the punch-punch-kick combo again, sending Grey Fox sailing across the room and into another set of computers, sending up a virtual fireworks show of sparks.

"Yes, the pain!" Fox cried. "I've been waiting for this pain!" I decided that I wouldn't touch that statement either. Fox rolled off the desk to land on his feet in a crouching position, then leapt forward with the agility of a grasshopper and so much force that Snake must've been convinced he was hit by a train when Fox collided into him a second later. They slammed into another bank of electronic controls, then rolled onto the floor with fists flying and knees lunging. Snake pounded on Fox's helmeted head as hard as he could; not a very smart decision on his part, considering he was beating on solid steel.

"Yes! Hurt me more!" Fox exclaimed. "More! More!" He managed to swing himself on top of Snake, who took the opportunity to grab Fox's arms and use his weight as an asset. Snake smashed his foot into Fox's chest and flipped the cyborg over his head; Fox smashed into the wall, shaking the whole room. Snake leapt to his feet and delivered double roundhouse kicks to Fox's head before he could recover, taking advantage of the fact that his fellow warrior was most definitely stunned. However, when Snake tried it again Fox grabbed his ankle, twisted it, and spun Snake in midair. He landed on the floor with a satisfyingly deft thud.

"I know that move, Snake. I felt it." Fox got to his feet. "Do you remember? The feel of battle? Do you remember me now, Snake?" I could see it in Snake's eyes; something had snapped in the dark recesses of Snake's mind, and now he _did _remember.

Snake spat, "You! You were killed! In Zanzibarland!"

These words confused the cyborg; "Killed? Zanzibar… land? I… don't…" Suddenly he began to spasm uncontrollably, his exoskeleton sparking and making noises akin to lightning. He let out a bloodcurdling cry of pain, which caused me to quickly flash back to Crab, to Turtle, to all electrocutions I had seen in the past, and I left these memories with fearful tears in my eyes. The cyborg held his head and fell to his knees.

"What's happening?" Snake yelled.

Fox then screamed, "The _MEDICINE!_" Snake muttered something I didn't pay attention to. Fox's suit emitted an energy field that grew into a ball of bright light, so bright that I had to shield my eyes; it was like Fox was malfunctioning instead of the suit.

"I'm… losing… myself!" Fox managed to choke out; I could see in Snake's eyes that the cyborg ninja's identity had been confirmed within his mind.

"Oh my God… Grey Fox," Snake whispered. Soon enough, the energy field dissipated, leaving a broken man who could barely keep himself upright on his hands and knees there on the floor. His breathing was weak, coarse and measured, and it broke my heart to see the strong man I had looked up to having been reduced to… _this_.

"Are you alright?" Snake asked, tentatively approaching the man; I narrowed my eyes, wondering what _he _cared. I knew I wasn't giving Snake any benefit of the doubt, but my mind had been made up about him long ago. The ninja let loose a heart-wrenching cry of anguish and pain before shooting out of the laboratory quick as a flash. The tortured soul was gone. I shut my eyes, not paying attention to Snake's next Codec call with Naomi and Campbell. I did listen to Naomi, though. I could hear the pain in her voice, the sadness and anger; I flashed back to when she was just a young girl, when Grey Fox was the whole world to her… He still was her whole world, and he always would be.

When I opened my eyes, Snake was standing in front of the locker Hal had retreated to; "How long are you gonna to stay in there?"

"Are… are you one of them?" Hal asked, frightened; immediately I forgot about my mental strife over Fox and smiled a little- oh Hal… If things had gone another way, I tell ya.

"No, I'm not. I always work alone."

"Alone? Are you an _otaku _too?"

Snake wisely didn't touch that question; "Come on, get out of there. We can't stay here forever." Hal opened the door and basically fell out of the locker, landing at Snake's feet.

"You're the Metal Gear chief engineer, Hal Emmerich?"

"You know me?"

"I heard about you from Baker."

"Oh! So you're here to rescue me?" For the first time since our first meeting I saw Hal smile as he got to his feet, and once again I thought how things might've gone.

"Sorry, but no. There's something I need to do first."

Hal shrugged; "Oh, well. At least you're not one of them." He walked over to the nearest chair with a noticeable limp and sat down.

"Are you hurt?"

"I'm okay, I just twisted my ankle a little trying to get away."

"Well, if that's all, then it's nothing to worry about. Listen, I need information about Metal Gear."

Hal lifted his head in surprise; "Huh? Metal Gear?"

"Yeah. What's Metal Gear _really _designed for?"

"It's a mobile TMD, you know, Theater Missile Defense system. It's designed to shoot down nuclear missiles, for defensive purposes, of course."

Snake grabbed Hal by his jacket and immediately I gritted my teeth; "Liar! I already know that Metal Gear is nothing but a nuclear-equipped walking deathmobile!"

Hal flinched, expecting a blow; "Nuclear? What… What are you talking about?"

"The terrorists are planning to use Metal Gear to launch a nuclear missile! Are you telling me you didn't know?"

"What? How can they do that?"

"You tell me!"

"Uh, the only way would be to put a dismantled warhead into Metal Gear's TMD missile module."

"Wrong." Snake dropped Hal back into the chair. "From the beginning, the purpose of this exercise was to test Metal Gear's nuclear launch capability using a dummy nuclear warhead. The terrorists are just continuing the work _you _started!"

"No, no; you're wrong."

"I heard it directly from your boss, Baker."

"No… a nuclear missile on REX…?" He shook his head in denial and apprehension, and I gulped; oh Hal…

Snake studied him for a little bit; "So you _really _didn't know?"

"No. All the armament was built by a separate department. And the ArmsTech president personally supervised the final assembly with the main unit."

"President Baker?"

"Yeah, I was never told exactly _what _they armed REX with. I only know it's equipped with a Vulcan cannon, a laser, and a Rail Gun."

"A Rail Gun?"

"Yeah. It uses magnets to fire bullets at extremely high velocities. The technology was originally developed for the SDI system and later scrapped. We were successful in miniaturizing it in a joint venture between ArmsTech and Rivermore National Labs. The Rail Gun is on REX's right arm."

"Metal Gear's main function is to launch nuclear missiles. You sure you're not forgetting something?"

"Well, it's true that Metal Gear has a missile module on his back that can carry up to eight missiles. But… are you saying it was originally meant to carry nuclear weapons?"

"Yeah." Snake leaned on a nearby workstation. "But that's not all I think. If Metal Gear fired only standard nuclear missiles, then they should already have all the practical data they need."

Hal rubbed his brow; "No, could it be?" He snapped his fingers and looked back at Snake. "Rivermore National Labs was working on a new type of nuclear weapon. They were using NOVA and NIF laser nuclear fusion testing equipment and supercomputers!"

Hal stood and limped to a bank of machines in the main laboratory, and Snake followed him; "These are some of the supercomputers. You can't use virtual data on a battlefield, they would need actual launch data. If you link these computers, you can test everything in a virtual environment. But it's all just _theoretical!_"

"This exercise was designed to test the real thing."

Hal leaned against the computers, took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes; "Oh man… What did our president do? If the terrorists launch that thing… damn! Damn!" He dropped to his knees and punched the floor, I bit my lip; "I'm such a fool, it's all my fault!" Snake didn't say a thing; he just walked over to another chair and sat down.

"My grandfather." That was Hal.

"What?"

Hal wiped the tears off his face. "My grandfather was part of the Manhattan Project. He suffered with the guilt for the rest of his life. And my father… _he _was born on August 6, 1945!"

"The day of the Hiroshima bomb. God's got a sense of humor, alright."

"Three generations of Emmerich men. We must have the curse of nuclear weapons written into our DNA." He began to cry again. "I used to think I could use science to help mankind, but the one who ended up being used was _me_. Using science to help mankind- that's only in anime!"

"That's enough crying, pull yourself together!" I wanted to punch Snake more than ever. Hal took a few breaths and wiped his face, and after a few moments he seemed to be at least marginally better.

Snake then asked, "Where is Metal Gear? Where on this base are they keeping it?"

"REX is in the underground maintenance base."

"Where's that?"

"North of the communication tower. It's a long way there."

"The emergency override system for the detonation code is there, too?"

"Yeah, in the base's control and observation room." Hal got to his feet quickly. "Gee, you'd better hurry! If they were planning a launch from the beginning, then their ballistic program is probably finished. And since they haven't called me in a few hours, they must not need me anymore. They must be ready to launch!"

Snake stood as well; "Meryl's got the detonation code override key. We'll link up with her."

"If we can't override the launch, we'll have to destroy REX." Hal started to limp toward the door. "I'll show you the way."

"On that leg of yours?" No way, you'll just slow me down."

"But you'll need me if you're gonna destroy REX."

"I don't need you. I just need your _brain_." You know enough about my rage towards Snake, so I won't keep reiterating it.

"I created REX, it's my right… and my _duty _to destroy it."

"You'll help me remotely. That's the best I can do for you." Hal was silent, but he accepted it anyways. "If you get a chance, try to escape. When the coast is clear I'll contact you by Codec."

"How am I supposed to escape from an _island_?" Snake was silent for a few seconds.

"Okay, good point."

"So, what then?"

"I want you to hide somewhere and keep me informed. You know this place well, don't you?"

"Course I do. And don't worry, I've got _this_." Hal manipulated something on his jacket and suddenly vanished. "It's the same stealth technology as the ninja. With this I'll be fine, bad leg and all." He reappeared and grinned. Snake quickly called Meryl, but nothing of interest was said. The only thing interesting was that mid-sentence Meryl was cut off, apparently discovered by our people.

Snake signed off, not looking too pleased with the situation; "Something's wrong… What did she look like?"

Hal put a hand to his chin in thought; "She was wearing the same green uniform as the terrorists. If she's disguised as the enemy, you'll have to contact her when she's alone, huh? There's only one place where we can be _sure _she's by herself."

"Where's that?"

"Don't be so dense." Hal fished a PAN card out of his jacket and handed it to Snake. "Here, use this security card. It's security level five."

Snake paused, then approached Hal looked closely at him. "You're not in pain, are you?"

Hal reflexively leaned away; "Uh, what's wrong? Getting friendly all of a sudden?"

"Oh, nothing." Immediately Snake stepped back, embarrassed. "I- uh, I'm glad you're okay."

Hal laughed a little. "You're strange… but in a _good _way!"

"I'm a little nervous. Everyone else I've saved suddenly dies." I gulped, trying to push back the flashbacks.

"You're bad luck, I guess."

"Forget it, Doctor."

"Call me Otacon."

"Huh?"

"Otacon. It stands for-" Snake gave him a look that said he really didn't care; Hal quickly shut up about that topic. "Well, I'm on frequency 141.12; see ya later." Hal activated the stealth camo, then left the room. Snake lingered a little bit before following suit and taking the elevator up to the B1 level of the building. Through a series of events far too boring to go into right now, Snake caught sight of Meryl and followed her into the women's bathroom. Right as he opened the door, he came face to face with Meryl pointing a FAMAS at him. Although, Snake was mostly staring at the fact she was only wearing a tank top and panties. I could see Liquid smirking out of the corner of my eye.

"I had no idea Meryl was your type, Liquid," I remarked, giving my fiancée a venomous glare. He hadn't noticed it just yet.

"Any woman with a figure like that is my type," Liquid replied semi-distractedly. I frowned and punched him on the arm. Liquid came to his senses and smiled apologetically; I just narrowed my eyes, silently warning him to watch it.

"Don't move!" Meryl snapped.

Snake froze and slowly raised his hands; "Take it easy."

"That's not why I'm aiming this at you."

"Then why are you?"

"Because men aren't allowed in here, pervert." She held her stance for a few seconds more before laughing and putting the FAMAS down. "That's the second time I've gotten the jump on the legendary Solid Snake."

"You know, there's no way you can pass as a man for long. I had no idea you were so… feminine."

"This is no time to hit on me, Snake."

"You're the one in your underwear."

She laughed again. "Besides, it's a waste of time. When I joined up, they gave me psychotherapy to destroy my interest in men." I didn't buy that for a second.

"If you say so. What's the matter? Are you hurt?"

"No."

"What happened a while ago? When you stopped transmitting."

"Oh, there were a bunch of guards. I had to blend in, so to speak." She opened a stall and picked up some military-issue pants lying on the floor.

Snake kept talking as she started to put them on; "Why are you changing? You'd be better off if you stayed in disguise.

Meryl finished putting the pants on; "I'm tired of that. The truth is, the uniform smelled like blood." I didn't see what her problem was; blood didn't smell that bad, in fact it smelled pretty good.

"Hey-" Snake pointed to a tattoo of the FOXHOUND logo on her shoulder- "What's that?"

"Oh, this? It's not a real tattoo; it's painted. I've been a fan of FOXHOUND from way back. When guys like you and my uncle were in it. None of that gene therapy bullshit like there is today. You guys were real heroes-" Liquid shut the audio off. I turned to him with a raised eyebrow; he was scowling, obviously not pleased with Meryl's view of us.

"… You don't have to listen if you don't like what she's saying," I remarked. Liquid ignored most of what I had said.

"That girl doesn't know what a hero is; I bet Snake is telling her right now that heroes don't even exist according to his nihilistic bullshit philosophy," Liquid muttered in a bitter tone. I considered contesting that point, but now that I thought about it I wasn't sure where the conversation would go if I did. I looked up at the ceiling and pondered Liquid's actions. I didn't bother saying anything. There wasn't much I _could _say. Twenty-five percent of what went on in Liquid's mind was a complete mystery to me, and he wasn't always the most willing to help me decipher that mystery.

We sat there in silence for three minutes exactly before I finally asked, "Then what _is _a hero, James? What constitutes as a hero in your eyes?" He pondered that for a few seconds.

"Someone who doesn't let go of what they believe in and fights for it even after the end," Liquid replied. I was about to point out that many people with evil intentions did that- the Patriots were doing it even now- but I had a feeling that the whole 'doing what's right' thing was understood.

"So that's what you plan on doing? You plan on fighting until after the end?" I pressed. He looked over at me with something resembling a smirk, and I smiled back; just like the whole 'doing what's right' thing, that should've been understood automatically. I turned the audio back on, looking back at the screen.

"Alright, I'll take point," Meryl said as Snake and Meryl exited the restroom with guns drawn; I raised my eyebrows, surprised at how quickly their conversation must've gone. Snake had Meryl's FAMAS and Meryl had a PSG-1 sniper rifle slung over her shoulders, and I wondered where Meryl had picked the sniper rifle up. They made their way into the corridor main, and I smirked; Mantis was very _very _close, he'd start working on their minds any minute now.

"That's strange, there's no guard," Meryl muttered, her eyes flickering about suspiciously.

"What happened to the music?" Snake wondered; I could barely hear the hum of Mantis's song through the audio link.

Meryl then said, "I'll keep a lookout. Make sure you're ready, okay?" In a few seconds, Snake and Meryl made their way to the corridor linking to the commander's room, and a few seconds after they made their way into the corridor Meryl fell to her knees with her head in her hands.

She let out a pained cry and managed to gasp, "My head! Ah, it _hurts!_"

"What's wrong?" Snake asked, moving closer to the rookie soldier.

"No! Don't come here, Snake!" Meryl cried. Snake just stood there, at a loss for what to do. As quickly as it had come, Meryl's headache seemed to disappear. She shook her head, wiped her forehead, then got to her feet. I smiled; Mantis had commenced the mind fragging.

"I'm fine now," Meryl deadpanned, opening the door in front of them.

"What happened?" Snake asked, not ready to believe her just yet.

"I said I'm fine. Come on, Mister FOXHOUND; the commander is waiting." The door opened and she walked into the office, and I made sure to change audio links as Snake followed her in. Snake looked around the office, and Mantis was nowhere to be found just yet. But I knew another mind fragging was about to commence. As Snake studied the holographic map of the facility, Meryl made her way over to Snake, walking in a _very _seductive manner. I glared out of the corner of my eye at Liquid, who immediately looked over at the wall.

"Snake, do you _like _me?" Meryl purred as Snake turned to face her, coming as close to him as possible and rubbing her hands all over him.

"What the…?" Snake was once again at a loss.

"Do you like me?" Meryl came even closer and batted her eyes. I winced a little; Mantis must be wanting to kill himself watching his handiwork.

"What's wrong with you?"

Breathing heavily, Meryl exclaimed, "Snake, hold me!"

"Meryl, stop it!"

"Make love to me, Snake! Hurry!" Mantis flashed into visibility for a second, adding to the major mind-frag Snake was going through.

Meryl pulled back and raised her gun to point straight at Snake; "Snake, I want you!"

"Who are you?" Snake demanded.

"What's wrong?" Mantis fully appeared behind the young woman for just a second, their voices melding together. "Don't you like girls~?" Snake didn't waste a second, slugging Meryl hard in the jaw. She didn't have time to cry out, dropping to the floor unconscious. Mantis fully appeared, floating three feet above the floor; I grinned, the show was about to start. I just wish we could see what Mantis would do to Snake's mind up close and personal.

"Useless woman," Mantis rasped, glaring behind his gas mask.

"You! You were the one manipulating her!" Snake shouted.

"Of course I am, you idiotic buffoon. I am beyond your pitiful intellect. I can destroy your _mind_," Mantis declared. I almost laughed at how much he was playing up his own personality. I just knew that I _had _to do the same thing when the time came.

Snake wasn't convinced; "All smoke and mirrors, I'll bet, just like that optic camouflage you have on. I hope that's not your only trick."

That statement didn't please Mantis; "You doubt my power? Now I will show you why I am the most powerful practitioner of psychokinesis and telepathy in the world! I can read your every thought and anticipate your every move." Mantis let out a laugh and continued, "You _like _the girl, don't you Snake? Even though that goes against what your head is telling you to do, your _heart _is falling for her. Isn't that right?" All I could think was 'Oh _snap_'.

Snake gritted his teeth; "You don't know what the hell you're talking about."

"Oh, and let's see, you've made friends with Doctor Emmerich! But where is he now? I do believe he's thinking of a very beautiful woman at this very moment. A seductive and… _frightening _woman," Mantis continued. Liquid frowned, this time giving me a look. I grinned sheepishly, although I was rather happy that Mantis had called me beautiful, since I was probably one of the people he hated most.

"Why don't you come down and fight like a man?" Snake demanded. Snake attempted to go for his SOCOM, but for some reason he was unable to remove it from the holster; Mantis had already ensnared Snake's mind within his control.

Mantis let out a maniacal cackle; "Having a little trouble with your armaments, Snake?" Snake retreated behind the desk, trying to restrategize and figure out how to defeat his otherworldly opponent. He settled for flinging a letter opener at him, and Mantis psychokinetically caught it, dropping it to the floor as he did.

"Pitiful, Snake!" Mantis laughed. "Can't you do better than that?" Snake leapt onto the desk and leapt for Mantis's legs, but Mantis vanished and Snake landed on the floor beside Meryl. He tried to pick up her gun, but if I knew Mantis he had probably made Snake's mind believe that the grip was blazing hot. Snake stopped moving right there; Mantis had trapped him within his own mind, within an illusion. He did twitch a few times, but that was it. He stayed that way for several minutes, more than enough time for someone with a stronger mental constitution to break out of Mantis's control. I smirked diabolically; he was lost to Mantis's control, no doubt about it…

And then Snake began to move again. I gritted my teeth and frowned; he was stronger than I thought, unfortunately.

"You're a strong warrior, Solid Snake," Mantis remarked, "You have a healthy mind and a tough heart, You resisted my little mind games, very admirable! But you are still no match for my powers!" Before Snake could recover from whatever Mantis had shown him, three chairs came flying at him; he flattened himself to the ground to avoid being hit. The chairs were followed by two metal urns, soaring at Snake like they had been shot out of canons. Snake dodged one, but the other grazed his shoulder and bounced off. Snake ignored the pain and drew his SOCOM, shooting down a mounted deer head flying his way.

Mantis frowned beneath his mask and set to getting the gun out of Snake's hands; eventually Snake had to drop the gun, since from the looks of it Mantis made him believe that it was extremely heavy instead of extremely hot. Mantis let out another psychotic cackle and sent books flying at him; they bombarded Snake like stones, and he was able to keep them from hitting his face by blocking them with his arms. Once the books had stopped hitting him, Snake abruptly and boldly sprinted for the door. He had a plan, no doubt about it.

One of the masked busts went flying off its pedestal and shot out at Snake to block his path. Snake ducked and turned back towards the desk, the other bust flying out to join its counterpart. They became guided missiles, following Snake around the room and tailing Snake no matter where he went as Mantis waited for the perfect opportunity to smash them over his head.

"Do your worst, Circus Freak!" Snake shouted as he zigzagged about the room. "Did they leave your cage in the sideshow unlocked, Mantis? Don't you miss living with the geeks?" Mantis's ego won over reason here as everything in the room that wasn't fixed to the floor floated into the air, ready to tumble down on Snake. Snake seized the moment and rolled over to get the SOCOM, firing two rounds at Psycho Mantis once he had spun out to a crouching position. Mantis screamed and dropped to the floor, the objects falling with him; unfortunately, nothing very heavy fell on Snake. I gasped, eyes wide; no… Mantis!

"You are… powerful… indeed… but I know… your weak point!" Mantis wheezed, struggling to take in oxygen. "Meryl… Stand right where he can see you… and blow your brains out!" On cue, Meryl got to her feet and put her Desert Eagle to her temple, but it was obvious that she was struggling not to obey the command, trying to pull her hand away. The gun fired, but Meryl had managed to move her head just in time, the bullet nearly grazing her scalp.

"Shoot… yourself!" Mantis commanded.

"Stop! Meryl!" Snake exclaimed before firing a round into Mantis's kneecap. He let out an agonizing cry, and my eyes widened even more in horror; Allah… don't let him die _please don't let him die_. Snake was able to pull the gun out of Meryl's hand, snapping her out of her suicidal command. He then walked over to Mantis; his already raspy breathing was shallow and forced, and I felt myself thinking back to when he had been impaled through the stomach. All I could think was _please please PLEASE he's part of my family DON'T DIE MANTIS. _I remembered how unsettling I found him so many years ago, but now Mantis was my friend, no matter how creepy and antisocial he was.

I looked over to Liquid; he had a similar expression, and I had a feeling that everyone but Ocelot would look the same way about it. Mantis was family, no matter how insane and violent he was.

"I wasn't able to read your future…" Mantis gasped.

"A strong man doesn't need to read the future. He makes his own," Snake replied. From here on in, I wasn't listening. I had heard Mantis talk about his life, but I was just consumed with thinking back to everything I had experienced alongside Mantis. I remembered meeting him, that glare he gave me; I remembered how I used to be frightened of his powers, and how they had slowly become something I was used to. I remembered, he was there when I learned of Saladin's death, and I knew he knew something more. I remembered when he had gotten impaled through the stomach, when he brought Liquid back from within his own mind, and when he was booted out of Liquid's mind by Saladin. I remembered everything, from when he would glare at my exposed chest with disdain to when he barely even acknowledged it and would even smile occasionally at me.

I clasped my hands beneath my chin and closed my eyes as Mantis rasped to Snake about his life, and I prayed for Mantis's soul to find respite somewhere. He would definitely _not _get into Paradise, but I hoped he'd at least get to cleanse himself of his sins in Purgatory. Mantis had the potential to be good, I knew it. … I was being biased, I knew, but Mantis was family. I took a second to marvel over that. I still had a family… I thought I had lost it when my biological family left me back in Iraq and when Old FOXHOUND disbanded, but I still had one now. It was falling apart, slowly but surely, but I still had it.

Once I finished my prayer, I looked back to the screen. Snake was putting Mantis's mask back on, and I smiled through my tears at that; Mantis wasn't Mantis without his gas mask, he deserved to die as himself.

"Before I die…" Mantis coughed, "I want to be myself. I want to be left alone… in my own world. I will… open the door for you." There was a click in the back of one of the bookshelves on the wall, and the entire bookcase slide to the side, revealing a dark passage into the ground.

Now very weak, Mantis murmured, "This is the first time… I've ever used my power… to help someone. It's strange… It feels kind of… nice."

The exhalation of breath was final and absolute. Mantis was gone.

I held back sobs, but my body still shook as if they were coming out all the same. I found myself shedding a few tears for Octopus as well, since I didn't find the time to when he actually died. I looked over at Liquid; his eyes were shut and his head hanging- he never did like to show his pain openly when others were around. After a few seconds he looked up and opened his eyes, and I could see in those beautiful green eyes that he was nearly as broken up as I was. No, he was exactly as sorrowful as me; we had both lost so much, and we were losing even more now.

"… Goodbye, Mantis," he whispered. I got to my feet with purpose, picking up the PSG-1 and moving to the door.

"Where are you going?" Liquid asked.

"I'm off to wait for Snake. My part in this comes soon, and I won't let Mantis down by not following his plan," I replied, my voice both strong and trembling at the same time. I could feel Liquid's smirk on my back.

"Be careful, Love," he murmured. I looked over my shoulder with a determined smirk, wiping my tears away.

"Just who do you think you're talking to?" I wondered before going out the door with Berthold on my heels. I went down to the first below-ground level of the comm. tower, crouched down, then glued my eye to the scope and waited. It had been a while since I had done that outside of an official mission, now that I thought of it. I smirked; I had missed it so, crouching, lying down, sitting, all with a scope on my eye and my vision marked by crosshairs as I waited for the shot. Berthold lay next to me, his tail sweeping back and forth across the steel floor. I waited for a little while, losing myself in the anticipation as always.

I blinked a few times, trying to rid my eyelashes of the snowflakes as they continuously fell. My right knee hurt from kneeling on the hard floor for this long, but I'd wait for as long as it took; I was a huntress, and I'd do whatever it took for my prey to come into position. I scanned the passageway again; no activity yet. My patience would never hinder, no matter what. In any other situation, I'd think of my old life and how I got here, but I was too excited to think of that.

"So what do you think? Pretty good, huh?" Meryl's voice rang out into the freezing air, and immediately I zoomed in on her. I narrowed my eyes; where was Snake?

"How did you know where the mines were?" There he was. He stepped out to better converse with her, getting right within my crosshairs. I smirked as they conversed for a few seconds more; this was the prize I was waiting for. Although, I'd need a lure to properly capture him… I smirked, for the perfect lure was right in front of me. I popped a few Pentazemin pills to steady my hands, then turned on the laser sight. It landed on the young woman's left breast. I took a deep breath, smiled wider, and pulled the trigger. Blood spurted into the air and turned the white snow bright red, Meryl falling to the ground and Snake ducking back out of my sight.

Meryl attempted to pick up her Desert Eagle, but I shot right through her hand. I wouldn't have her trying anything. She called out to Snake, telling him to leave her behind and not forget her. Snake would do no such thing. After what I could only assume was a Codec call, Snake threw a stun grenade out in front of Meryl. I gritted my teeth and squeezed my eye shut as the grenade went off; I would _not _be _blinded_, but I couldn't see Snake through the blaze.

Once it had died down, the PSG-1 that had been beside Meryl was gone and Snake was obviously behind the opposite alcove. I frowned; where _was _he? I adjusted my position, and immediately I saw him. But I saw my laser sight on his forehead; _damn! _I forgot to turn it off! Before I could shoot him or turn off the laser light, Snake aimed at me and fired. I jerked out of the way just in time. I gritted my teeth, and moved from this metal support to the other. He fired again, just _barely _grazing my shoulder this time. I resisted the urge to curse. Snake began to run closer in an erratic pattern while I did my best to lock on to his position.

I fired twice, hitting the ground in front of his feet, and he ducked into another alcove. Now he was closer to the tower, and a much easier shot for me. I was also a much easier shot for _him_. I shot three times at the wall on the edge of the alcove, daring him to come out. He threw a chaff grenade out, and as it exploded I wondered what the Hell he wanted to accomplish with that; it was the worst explosive for a diversion-

Right then a bullet blasted through my shoulder. I shouted out in pain and ducked into a nearby room. All I found interesting were the medical supplies and radio. As I tended to my arm, putting it a makeshift sling, I turned the radio to an open channel.

"All units in the comm. tower, apprehend the intruder!" I shouted over the channel. Once I had gotten confirmation from a nearby unit that they were on their way to capture Snake, I finished off bandaging my shoulder before going outside. I was pleased to see that several elite members of the guard had Snake surrounded with their assault rifles at the ready and had already made him drop his weapon. Snake noticed me, and he looked me up and down, like most men did. I suddenly wished I had my jacket._ Time to play up my reputation_.

"You were a fool to come here, stupid man," I scoffed, walking towards him with a disdainful look.

"A lady sniper, huh?" Snake remarked, raising an eyebrow.

I smirked in superiority; "Didn't you know that most of the world's greatest assassins are women?"

"What happened to your shoulder?" Snake asked sarcastically. I resisted the urge to smash the butt of the PSG-1 into his face.

"It's just a scratch." I paused to lick my lips, playing up my seductive reputation as much as I could. "Do you want to die now or after your female friend? Which will it be?"

"I'll die after I kill you." I let out a mocking laugh; I had no plans to die, at least not yet.

"Is that right? Well, at least you've got spirit. I am Sniper Wolf, and I always kill what I aim at. You're my special prey." I stepped closer to him and scratched his left cheek with my nails. I kept them long for the exact purpose of being able to scratch things with them. Snake didn't flinch, even as blood trickled down his face.

"I've left my mark on you," I continued. "I won't forget it. Until I kill you, you're all I think about." I was living this up, and after holding Snake's gaze for a few seconds I turned away. "Take him away!" Immediately the operatives knocked him out and proceeded to drag him off. I let out a small laugh; acting up my reputation to the fullest had been _fun_. Almost made me forget what circumstances we were in.

"Your _special prey_, hm?" I looked over my shoulder to find Liquid staring at me with one eyebrow raised, the quintessential British expression of disapproval. Berthold was behind him, wagging his tail obliviously.

"Oh come on, I've got a reputation to uphold. Besides, it's payback for you leering at Meryl," I purred, smirking his way. Liquid rolled his eyes while I directed mine back to the soldiers carrying off Snake.

"Don't forget the girl! Handle her carefully, we don't want her dying just yet," I called. Two of the soldiers nodded, then moved away from Snake to pick up a half-conscious Meryl. Once they were transporting her carefully, Liquid and I followed them all the way back to the Tank Hangar, where Ocelot's _favorite _part of this plan would begin.


	26. Chapter 26: Capture and Escape

_LAST TIME, it was Ninja Time, Wolf was all d'aww over Otacon (much to the NONAMUSEMENT of Liquid Snake), Wolf and Liquid debated philosophy because they hate Meryl, Psycho Mantis tried to mind-frag Snake and died for it WHICH MADE OUR 'HEROS' ALL SAD FAIC, Wolf captured teh Snake and I couldn't come up with a creative title for this chapter. Well, ladies and gents, with any luck this will be the penultimate chapter. I KNOW, I'M SAD TO SEE IT END TOO. Well, let's do this~! I own nothing, let's go. _

_**-Capture and Escape-**_

Ocelot was _quite _pleased when we deposited Snake into his lair of torture; in fact, he was nearly ecstatic. That's probably the happiest I'd ever see him, now that I thought about it. It was rather perturbing, and Liquid felt the same way about it. He spoke up to quench Ocelot's sadistic glee.

"Don't kill him yet. I want him alive," Liquid snapped, giving Ocelot a look.

"Leave it to me," Ocelot replied, his enthusiasm going down a bit.

"I want no more accidents like the DARPA chief," Liquid added, narrowing his eyes.

"Yes, he's _my_ target. Mine alone," I commented. Ocelot rolled his eyes at how I was still hamming it up; it was fun, I couldn't just _stop_! I turned to Liquid.

"Do you need his DNA too?" I asked, looking from the unconscious Snake to Liquid and back quickly enough that it was imperceptible. I folded my arms over my chest; my sling was gone and I had been properly bandaged up, but my shoulder still hurt like a bitch.

"Yes," Liquid replied, "I want a sample while he's still alive. We need it to correct the Genome Soldiers' mutations."

"Then we'll be able to cure them?" I questioned further, raising an eyebrow. I didn't know very much about genetics, so a lot of this was a mystery to me.

"No. We still have to get our hands on Big Boss's DNA," Liquid replied. I pursed my lips; I knew it was for the good of our soldiers, but tampering with Big Boss's remains wasn't what I most wanted to be doing with my time. Tampering with _anyone_'s DNA wasn't something I was very keen on, it just wasn't right.

"Have they given into our demands yet?" I asked.

"Not yet."

Immediately I frowned deep and spat, "They won't give in. They're hypocrites, every last one of them." Ocelot raised an eyebrow at that while he calibrated the torture device Snake was strapped to, making sure it was in working order for the torment to come. Normally I kept my… _unpleasant _thoughts on Americans to myself, but sometimes I just felt like sounding like a terrorist.

"Is that your opinion? As a Kurd?" Liquid asked. I glared at him; even though he was my fiancée, _nobody _was allowed to bring up my race, especially not in tense situations.

"They always put politics first," I replied, dodging around the question.

Liquid seemed to have forgotten about it as well, since right after that he said, "That's right. That's why they want to avoid any leak about their precious new nuclear weapon."

Ocelot cut in right then; "Hey, Boss, it looks like our friend is awake." I looked to Snake, who was just beginning to open his eyes. He definitely looked disoriented, and he would be after the hit those soldiers gave him to knock him out.

"Can you hear me, Solid Snake?" Liquid asked, now looking rather excited in the back of his mind. He'd been _waiting _for this, it was quite obvious. Snake attempted to move, but it was a pitifully pointless effort.

"It's no use, Snake," Ocelot commented, "Your body is strapped down tight." Snake blinked a few times before opening his eyes all the way and examining his surroundings. His face and eyes betrayed none of his inner thoughts and emotions at the present moment.

"Can you hear me, Snake?" Liquid repeated.

"He's tougher than I thought," I added for the heck of it.

"Do you know who I am? I always knew that one day I would meet you," Liquid continued, completely ignoring me. I tried not to let out an indignant 'huff' at that; I'd just make him pay for it later… And I knew exactly how to do it. I quickly concocted a plan and waited for my opening.

"There's definitely a resemblance, don't you think, little brother?" Liquid wondered, closing the distance between him and Snake. I tried not to freak out over the distance between them and that FOXDIE might've infected him…

"Or should I say _big _brother? I'm not sure," Liquid remarked before turning away, "Anyway, it doesn't matter. Are you figuring it out, Snake? Is it clear to you now?" The best reply Snake could come up with was a groan.

Liquid chuckled; "That's right. You and I are the last surviving sons of Big Boss." Liquid was about to go on a speech he had probably written, edited and had Mantis proof-read all over a span of nine days, but his cell phone began to ring. Immediately he answered.

"It's me." He listened for a bit, then reacted quite strongly. It wasn't good news. "What? Really? Then what? … Those _idiots_! Alright, Raven. I'll be right there." Liquid hung up. "They're not responding to our demands. We'll launch the first one in ten hours as planned."

"Damn Americans!" I spat, gritting my teeth angrily.

"Looks like you read them wrong," Ocelot commented.

Liquid shook his head; "Something's not right. Normally the Americans are the first ones to the negotiating table. They must think they've got something up their sleeve." The both of us knew exactly what that was. FOXDIE. They were placing a lot of faith in that disease, and since Naomi was the one who created it, I didn't question that faith. I just hoped she found it in her heart to leave Liquid out of the list of targets. I didn't care if FOXDIE killed me, if Liquid could be spared, then I was just fine with dying.

"So it's come down to it?" Ocelot asked. "We're gonna launch that nuke and ride it all the way into history?" That put a strange image into my head that I decided not to share in here. Liquid was quite disturbed by that call from Raven, I could tell.

"I've got to take care of some launch preparations. You're in charge here Ocelot," Liquid declared, moving towards Snake some more. Ocelot looked over to me.

"What about you? Wanna stay for the show?" Ocelot asked. I rolled my eyes; he knew I wasn't much for torture.

"I'm not interested," I replied, popping a few Pentazemin capsules. "It's time to feed the family."

"So, you prefer your wolves to my show, hm?" Ocelot wondered, sounding a little offended.

"Ocelot," Liquid cut in, "don't screw up like you did with the chief."

"I know. That was an accident. I didn't think a pencil pusher like him would be so tough," Ocelot replied.

"Well, his mental defenses were reinforced with nanomachines," Liquid remarked.

"Boss, what about that ninja?" Ocelot asked after a pause. This seemed to pique Snake's interest just a bit. Liquid frowned; just one _more_ problem he had to deal with.

"He's killed twelve men. Whoever he is, he's some kind of lunatic," Liquid replied.

"Bastard took my hand," Ocelot growled, "How could he have gotten in here?"

"Perhaps," Liquid said, glancing back at Snake, "there's a spy among us." He turned to address Ocelot and I. "Mantis is dead. We've also got to find out what killed Baker and Octopus. We're shorthanded, so make this little torture show of yours as short as possible." I tried not to roll my eyes.

"Torture?" Ocelot protested. "This is an interrogation!" I rolled my eyes then.

"Whatever." Liquid turned back to Snake. "See you later, brother." With that, he left the room. I stayed behind, then sauntered over to Snake.

I reigned in all fear of FOXDIE and leaned in to whisper seductively, "Your woman is still in this world."

"Meryl…" Snake managed to rasp. I chuckled against his ear.

"See you later… _handsome_," I murmured. I licked his ear- making him flinch- then smirked and walked out of the room with out a look over my shoulder. The minute the door closed behind me, I was face to face with Liquid, leaning against the wall with an expression that could only be described by the term 'not amused'.

"… You've taken a liking to him, I see," Liquid remarked, his words full of venom. I rolled my eyes yet again (I felt that my eyes were getting dizzy); that was my way of getting back at Liquid for ignoring me, so I didn't really regret it that much.

"Oh please, if I had taken a liking to him I'd have left you by now," I replied. Liquid just raised an eyebrow. The tension wasn't allowing him leeway to automatically forgive me. I let out a sigh and smiled a little.

"I'll try to keep my personality within normal parameters," I chuckled. Liquid allowed himself a smirk, and after a brief walk I found myself in the ice field. I had murdered a caribou on the way over for the pack, and when I arrived in the field they all swarmed me like hornets. I let out a laugh and set the corpse of the caribou there for them to dig their teeth into, and once they all finished their fill of it they came over to me with tails wagging, starting with Berthold. I lavished them all with attention and praise in Kurdish; I briefly wondered if I'd ever speak to a human in Kurdish again. It had been quite a while since I had met with other people of my nationality, now that I thought of it. I took my mind off of that and focused on the pack instead. It was nice, just spending time with the dogs. It made me temporarily forget about all the tension in the air.

After that, I made my way into the comm tower, but not into the surveillance room. Instead, I went for the secondary medical room. They had to move Meryl in there, since there was only room for Snake in the one Ocelot was currently using. I went inside and looked about the all white, sterile room; I was the only one there, not including Meryl. The rookie soldier was lying on a nearby cot, unconscious and pale. Her shirt was gone, but there were bandages all over her torso that conveniently preserved her modesty. Said bandages were stained red in all the places I remembered shooting her.

I cringed; hurting women and children was never a fun process, and Meryl was no exception to that rule. Right then, she began to stir, and she opened her eyes halfway. Our eyes met, and right then I noticed how very different we were. Our physical differences were obvious enough (short red hair to long blonde hair, veteran's ocean blue to rookie's grass green, etc.), but it ran even deeper than that. Hell, even the men we had fallen in love with were complete opposites by design. It was almost a little bit surreal.

"… You're the sniper…" Meryl whispered.

"Don't talk. Your injuries are severe, and they will only get even worse with what Ocelot has in store for you," I ordered. Meryl shut her mouth and rolled over onto her back, wincing from the pain. She looked over at me and silently asked me why I was here with those eyes Snake had described as passionate and clear.

"I was curious about your condition," I replied. Meryl looked away; I could see guilt in her eyes. Well, she _did _promise not to get in Snake's way. But it wasn't really _her _fault, though I had a feeling she wouldn't believe that if I assured it to her. I wasn't sure what to say; in fact, I wasn't sure why I was still here. I looked over my shoulder; this was one of the few rooms with a window. Through that window, I saw rain… Lightning crackled outside, and in that flash The Sorrow appeared before me. I wasn't surprised, but Meryl nearly jumped.

"Hello, Sorrow," I said with a small smile. He smiled back at me and that sign of his appeared in his hands.

"_Hello to you as well, Ferishteh,_" his sign read; he turned to Meryl and his sign changed to say, "_You as well, Miss Silverburgh._" Meryl just turned over onto her side and hugged the wall, obviously trying to pretend this wasn't going on. I let a laugh break through.

"So, why are you here?" I asked.

"_Well, I've taken quite a liking towards FOXHOUND, and watching this is quite interesting, to say the least_," the Sorrow 'replied'. I smiled wider, but a few seconds later something came to mind and my smile fell.

"… I'm going to die soon, aren't I?" I asked.

The Sorrow furrowed his eyebrows, his smile falling as well, and his sign changed to read, "_What makes you think that?_"

"Well, I've had an odd amount of flashbacks tonight, all in quick succession and in chronological order, along with events they're related to," I replied, "Basically, my life has been flashing before my eyes."

"_Those could just be a mild form of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder,_" the Sorrow suggested.

"I don't have PTSD," I replied. In fact, according to the various psych evaluations FOXHOUND was given at semi-regular intervals throughout the year, I was the sanest of the bunch.

"_Well, at this present moment it seems like your fate could go either way_," the Sorrow remarked, "_You _might _live, or you _might _die._"

I looked away with a frown; "I already knew that."

"_Good luck, Ferishteh,_" the Sorrow said before disappearing. The rain disappeared alongside him, and I let out a breath I hadn't noticed I was holding. I looked over my shoulder once again at Meryl- still facing the wall- before leaving the medical ward and going up to the surveillance room. I wondered what exactly the purpose of those encounters was, but then decided it didn't really matter. When I entered the room I had departed from a while ago, I was face to face with Liquid once more, only now he was more focused on watching the security monitors.

I didn't make a sound, instead deciding just to walk over to my chair and sit beside Liquid. He acknowledged me with a brief glance and a small smile. I looked over at the screens; Snake was moving freely about the facility, making his way back to where he left off. I furrowed my eyebrows; Hal probably helped him escape somehow, either that or Grey Fox. There was only so much he could do with no gear all on his own, so he had to have had help. … Although, Snake was _good_. He could probably get out of that with a clever enough plan all on his own.

"How'd he escape?" I asked.

"He hid somewhere where the guard couldn't see him, tricking him into thinking he had escaped, then killed him when he came in to investigate," Liquid replied. "I have to admit, not that bad of an escape." I made a small sound of comprehension, and a few minutes after I did I suddenly felt all my anxiety and fear bubble up to the surface; he could've infected me, he could've infected Liquid, he'd kill us both, _oh Allah please don't let him die_. I realized that I had pulled into myself, my shoulders hunched to draw my own head closer to my body. Liquid noticed it as well.

"What is it, Ferishteh?" Liquid asked gently, all of his earlier jealously and mild contempt gone. Faster than even I could process, I found myself hugging Liquid, clinging to him desperately with my face buried into him.

I felt a tear roll down my cheek as I whispered, "What are we going to _do_, James? He could've infected you back there, and…" I had said it all before, to myself and to the air around me. I didn't feel like repeating myself for the umpteenth time. Liquid gently moved my head so I was looking up at him and smiled as he wiped that one tear off my face. I nearly smiled myself; in his eyes, his smile, everything in his expression communicated his love for me, and I realized that no matter how nice Hal was, the only one who would ever look at me with that much love was Liquid.

"Oh come on, all this 'what are we going to do' talk from the woman who gave a speech about moving forward without fear several hours ago~?" Liquid asked with a small laugh. I didn't hold back my smile any more.

"I promise you, Ferishteh, we _are _going to win this, and neither of us is going to die," Liquid murmured. "Besides, I couldn't leave you all alone in a place like _this_, could I?"

I chuckled and replied, "You're right, I'd hurt you quite badly if you did." Liquid looked over to the monitors on the wall, and I glanced over them as well. Snake was around the fifth floor of Comm Tower A.

Liquid broke off the embrace and said with a slightly more wicked smirk, "Well, I suppose now's a good a time as any to engage him." I smirked as well; my confidence had been renewed indefinitely, and I was game for Liquid to take on Snake right now.

"You'd better move quick, those stairs may be a pain but he can probably get up them just fine," I replied, giving him a small kiss for luck. After a few exchanged pleasantries, Liquid left to get the Hind D and I moved to the monitors. I watched as Snake made his way up those _GodDAMN _stairs. Going up and down those bastards was not a fun experience, especially when the elevator was broken. When Snake reached the seventh floor, a pair of guards came rushing at him from a door just out of this camera's line of sight. Whoever placed this one didn't do a very good job. Snake took out the two men before they had even properly registered his presence, and kept going at breakneck speed up the stairs.

He only paused on the twenty-first floor, but on the twenty-second floor three guards with FAMAS rifles blocked his path. Snake took quite a risk and threw a grenade towards the troopers before diving for the landing below. The explosive blew a hole in the stairs, and the guards in question fell straight through, sending them plummeting down a story before they rolled down several more flights and stopped, dead. Snake didn't take another moment to rest, instead keeping on with his trek up the stairs and jumping over the hole he made when he reencountered it. Great, he kills my friends then blows up our stuff. I had new reasons to hate the operative.

Snake didn't encounter any more guards on his way up, and made it up to the roof without further incident. My view of the roof was less than clear, since there was a blizzard raging out there, but I could identify Snake as he took a second to look over the view from the tower. I couldn't see it from the angle the camera had been placed at, but I knew that it was quite a view… It wasn't worth going up those stairs, though. Snake proceeded across the icy skywalk connecting the two towers, but he stopped abruptly. I turned on the audio link and immediately figured out why at the sound of approaching rotor blades. I grinned like a madwoman.

The Hind D rose from behind the second tower and sent half a dozen of its rockets screaming through the air towards the satellite dish, causing an explosion that knocked Snake onto his ass. I could feel the entire tower shake and paused to frown; that wasn't a good idea on Liquid's part, I was in here dammit! The dish toppled onto the bridge, smashing the easiest route between the two towers to bits.

Liquid cackled over the Hind D's loudspeaker; "That road is closed, Snake!" The helicopter swung over to the other tower, looking over Snake as he got to his feet; the operative rushed for the stairwell, but Liquid let loose another missile and destroyed the only escape route from the roof. Snake was knocked back and covered with debris by the explosion, and Liquid continued to laugh over the loudspeaker; he was having the time of his life, and unlike the rest of us he wasn't overacting his personality at all. Snake rolled onto his back and foolishly fired the SOCOM at the Hind D; Liquid and I laughed maniacally in perfect time.

"You've got to be kidding, brother! Your puny weapons are no match for one of Russia's best pieces of warfare technology!" Liquid declared. Snake got to his feet and ran just as Liquid fired the chopper's machine guns at the roof, the bullets following Snake to the edge of the tower, cornering him. There was no way out- wait a minute- was that a _rope _over his left arm? Snake realized it at the same time as I did, and tied the end of the rope to a girder. He threw the other end over the side of the tower, then began a long, difficult rappel down the building. From what I could see as he made his way down, Snake was quite good at rappelling, but I doubt he was good at rappelling while dodging machine gun fire from a Hind D at the same time.

Liquid toyed with him the entire way down; he could obviously shoot his brother down easily enough, but apparently he just felt like scaring the crap out of him. Snake didn't stop even for a second, moving quickly down the tower. Liquid's laugh filled the cold air as the helicopter buzzed around the building's edge, the machine gun's bullet ventilating the building quite well. Not one bullet touched Snake; Liquid wanted to face him one on one. However, Snake had no idea of Liquid's plan. I could tell, he was probably intent on making sure Liquid wouldn't have another chance.

As Snake neared the ground, Liquid indiscriminately shot rockets at various areas on the tower, creating fireballs all around Snake that probably seared his skin. As a non-sequiter thought in the back of my head, I wondered what cooked snake tasted like. I avoided them when I was living alone in the desert, so I truly had no idea. Snake hit the ground, but Liquid had not given up. The Hind D hovered lower and aimed at Snake's position.

"Try to get to the second tower, brother! Go ahead! Give it your best shot!" Liquid mocked; I could just tell that he was grinning like mad right now. Possibly in an act of spite, Snake took that dare and ran for the base of the second tower; Liquid immediately cut him off with two rockets, and when the smoke cleared the lower two floors of the second tower were in ruins. The Hind D had disappeared, but I didn't think too much of it. Snake made his way into the second tower regardless, and I guess you'd have to ask him how he got through the wreckage of those two floors since the cameras in there were destroyed. I only found him again when he got the third floor landing. He seemed relatively unscathed, which I didn't think much of; hey, he was _Liquid's _brother, and we all know how damn hard to kill Liquid is.

Snake searched through a couple of nearby rooms, then found a Stinger missile launcher. Now _those _I didn't mind so much. I had used one before, and I had to say it was damn fun. However, I didn't quite like it in Snake's hands. Mostly because he was going to use it to shoot Liquid down. It only took him fifteen minutes to get up to the twenty-seventh floor, where he rested for a little bit, but when he was about to move on footsteps sounded to his right. Immediately Snake drew his gun on the sound.

"Don't shoot! It's me! Don't shoot!" I smiled and rolled my eyes; Hal. "Snake, it's me!" Hal deactivated the stealth control to reveal that he was standing a few feet away.

Snake holstered his gun immediately; "Otacon? How did you get here?"

"The elevator," Hal replied.

"But the first floor was destroyed."

"That's why I took the elevator."

"It's _working_?" I raised an eyebrow; what an idiot.

"Uh-huh! Gosh, you're incredible! Like a movie hero or something." I let out a small laugh; oh Hal~

Snake leaned against a wall; "No, you're wrong. In the movies, the hero always saves the girl."

"Oh. You mean Meryl? Sorry, uhm, forget I said anything." Hal looked into the stairwell. "No one followed you. I think you can relax." Snake stayed silent.

"Listen, there's something I want to ask you," Otacon said. "It's why I followed you up this far."

"What."

"Have you ever… loved someone?" What the- where was _this _coming from?

"_That's _what you came to ask?"

"No, I mean… I was… I was wondering if even soldiers fall in love." I narrowed my eyes; I could answer that with a very emphatic _yes. _

"What the hell are you trying to say?"

"Do you think love can bloom on a battlefield?" … It dawned on me. He was talking about me. Hal… I just closed my eyes with a kind of shame.

"That's a really stupid question, Otacon, but to give you an answer, yeah, I do. I think at any time, any place… people can fall in love with each other. But if you love someone, you have to be able to protect them."

Hal nodded happily at hearing the answer he wanted to hear; "Yeah, I think so too~!" I turned off the audio link. I didn't need to hear any more. Snake tried the elevator, but it didn't arrive. I could gather that he sent Otacon to fix it, and once Otacon was gone Snake made his way to the last flight of stairs and onto the roof. Black smoke from the burning floors below created an ominous backdrop for the coming battle, and I turned on the audio link just in time to hear the _chop-chop-chop _sound of the rotor blades as the Hind D rose over the side of the roof.

"So, the snake has finally come out of its hole!" Liquid declared over the loudspeaker. "Are you ready now, brother?"

"Why are you calling me brother? Who the hell are you?" Snake demanded. I wanted to punch him for that stupid question.

"I'm you! I'm your shadow!" Liquid called back.

"What?" Snake exclaimed, confused by that metaphor.

"Ask father! I'll send you to hell to meet him!" With that, Liquid shot two more missiles straight at Snake. The operative ran sideways and slid on a patch of ice that had escaped the fiery fiasco about a half-hour earlier. The explosion behind him jolted the building, threatening to cave in the roof. Snake stopped by slamming his legs against some rubble, then ducked behind some rubble for cover. He readied the Stinger launcher, and in a few seconds it was obvious that he had locked right onto the Hind D. Liquid saw what Snake was preparing to do, and immediately he started backing away in the Hind, trying to get too high for the Stinger to hit. It was useless; the missile was locked on, it wouldn't stop until it hit its mark. Snake said something I couldn't properly hear before pulling the trigger. The Stinger missile burst out of the launcher, staying on track even as the Hind rose into the sky and colliding with the bottom of the aircraft.

It only took a few seconds, and _Allah_ was it horrifying. The back end of the Hind disintegrated into a ball of hellfire, sending pieces of metal and burning debris flying every which way possible. The blazing craft wavered for a few seconds before buckling and spiraling to Earth. I didn't stay to hear what Snake had to say about this, and before I knew it I was running up the stairs like I was possessed. Two parts of my mind were repeating mantras to me as I made my way up to the roof, one part of my mind saying _He's alright, he survived worse _and the other saying _Allah Allah Allah is he dead he can't be dead_. It was a paradox I decided to ignore, and when I got to the roof I retrieved the rope Snake abandoned on that girder. I found a piece of still hot metal and bent it into a hook before tying the rope to it and fashioning myself a grappling hook.

I didn't think as I spun it around a bit and tossed it over to the other tower; it hooked onto another girder, and without a thought I leapt over the gap between the towers; I hit the other wall, and though it hurt I didn't pay attention and began to rappel as fast as I could down to the wreckage that was the Hind D. It didn't take nearly as long as it should've to get down there, but then again I was in kind of a hurry. When my feet hit the snow, I ran over to the flaming metal wreck. It was actually kind of sad to see the gunship in such a state; I had rather liked the Hind D, so it was sad to see it like this…

Right as I was thinking this and halfway to the wreckage, Liquid stumbled out of the flames. I sprinted double time and met him halfway. I breathed a sigh of relief; he had a few bruises, a medium-sized gash on his forehead, he was half-delirious and part of his coat was singed, but besides that Liquid was perfectly fine. He nearly fell on top of me, so I put his arm over my shoulder and guided him to the wall parallel to the burning Hind D. I waited out there until Liquid had regained his senses; if I were a smoker, this would've been the perfect time to have a cigarette. I knew that now there was no way around it; I'd have a proper fight with Snake. After ten minutes, Liquid got to his feet using me as a support.

"Do you think you can walk?" I asked, keeping Liquid steady with a hand on his shoulder.

"… I think so," Liquid replied, taking his own hand off my shoulder and standing up straight.

"Alright. Liquid, I think Ocelot may have taken Meryl to be tortured now, so you should go back into the comm tower's medical room to take care of those bruises," I recommended. "I'm going to go to the ice field and fight with Snake properly."

Liquid spared a small smirk, "I'll be watching." I smiled as well, quickly kissed him, then began my trek to the ice field for my fight with Snake. Despite what Snake had just done, I felt confident. If Liquid could survive a helicopter crash with barely a scratch on him, a manufactured disease that was full of bugs couldn't do much better. And Naomi probably found it in her heart to take me off the list, so I was fine on that front. Snake was no sniper; he'd fall before me.

I was going to win.

We were going to win.


	27. Chapter 27: Enclosure

_LAST TIME, Wolf spited Liquid for paying more attention to his brother than her, payed Meryl a visit, had some ghosty talk with The Sorrow, freaked out for a second, got calmed down by Liquid, watched Snake do his thing, rooted for Liquid as he tried to blow Snake up, met up with Liquid after HE was almost blown up, then made her way to her final battle. Alright, ladies and gentlemen. Here we are, less than a year after when my story started, and we're ending it today. This story is something of an accomplishment, in both being my longest story and probably one of the best, even if I did ref super-mega-hardcore off of Last Days of FOXHOUND. And even though I did, I'm glad that I was able to make some parts of that my own, and that the beginning was all my own while I managed to keep things going through this last part. Thank you so much for sticking through this, even all of you who didn't agree with everything I was doing. And thank you to any of you who read without reviewing, just the fact that someone is seeing this is enough for me. I'd like to give a special thanks to Soldier's Shadow, who actually inspired me to write this. I hope he sees this, even though he's sworn himself off of FFnet. And to Master of the Boot, for continually being a good friend and also inspiring me with his own amazing writing. Stay classy~! Well, I don't own anything, I'm sorry if this last chapter sucks, let's go._

_**-Enclosure-**_

Getting to the snow field- as always- was quite easy. The dogs had mobbed me when I got there, but when I explained the situation to them they retreated to the outermost corners of the field. I was actually a little surprised at first when they understood that as well as they did, but I remembered that dogs were smarter than most people sometimes, so the surprise wore off. So, here I was, crouched on the cold ground within the shadows of the trees, waiting for Snake. I was lost within the anticipation, I had no idea how much time had passed since I had first set the scope in front of my eye; I smirked, it was just like old times.

I spared a glance over to Berthold; he was closest to me, though he was also in the corners as well, staring at me with his tail thumping against the ground. I thought back a few minutes; before sending Berthold to watch over the rest of the pack, I gave him some instructions. I told him in Kurdish that if anything happened to me he should consider Liquid his new 'master', and if anything happened to _him _he should do the same for Hal. Those were the only two people in this world that I trusted to take care of my beloved Berthold if I left this world, nobody else would do.

I briefly wondered why I had done so; perhaps I was acknowledging the reality of this situation, that I may or may not live through this battle, or perhaps I still had a little bit of anxiety left over. It could've been anything, and it didn't matter at the moment. I waited, waited, waited. Time had no meaning, and soon enough my waiting payed off as Snake emerged from the door on other side of the field. He stopped for a second by the door, taking out a cigarette and proceeding to smoke it. I could feel my stomach flip-flopping around, and for once in my life the jackals were back, not for reasons of love, but for reasons of excitement. I welcomed them back, though I told them they were second only to the real pack I was caring for.

Once Snake finished his cigarette, he began his trek towards the door to the maintenance building. I grinned, trying not to let out a gleefully wicked chuckle. Showtime. I pulled the trigger, missing Snake's foot by an inch. Just as I predicted, he darted behind a tree, and I followed him, shooting at the tree and just missing him. I adjusted my position just a little; Snake had crouched down, his hand against his ear. He was making a Codec call. I smirked and went to my Codec; Perhaps I should make him aware of my presence. My hours upon hours of surveillance payed off as I punched in Snake's frequency and waited as I steamrolled my way through the levels of security around it. In a burst of static, I was connected.

"I can see you perfectly from here. I told you I'd never quit the hunt. Now you're mine," I purred, still playing up the role of the femme fatale with a dangerously obsessive crush on the hero while laughing hysterically about it in my own mind.

Hal cut into the conversation; "Wolf! No, you can't!" I frowned; I hadn't known Snake was talking to Hal. This was mildly annoying; I couldn't properly do this with Hal pleading for me to stop in the background.

"Don't get between a wolf and its prey!" I snapped.

Snake then challenged, "You're pretty good if you can hit me in this storm."

"You see? Women naturally make better soldiers," I replied with a grin.

"Wolf! Don't do this!" Hal continued to plead.

"Snake, I am near. Can't you sense me near you?" I hissed.

"It's a mistake for a sniper to reveal her location," Snake shot back. Well, he got me there.

"You think so? Well, I'm going to send you a love letter, my dear. A bullet straight from my gun to your heart," I replied, licking my lips and _really _getting into this.

"Please! Wolf… Snake… No!" Hal cried.

"Quiet, Hal!" I commanded. "Don't get in our way!" I had the sinking feeling that Hal _would _be quiet after I had said that. Oh Hal…

Snake snarled, "I'm going to pay you back for Meryl."

"You men are so weak. You can never finish what you start," I growled, turning off my Codec and putting the PSG-1 back into a firing position. I fired, hitting the tree just above Snake's head. He hit the ground, and I fired right next to his face; it was hard to get a direct hit in this blizzard, but I was determined. I'd get him, he was _my _prey, mine alone. Snake leapt to his feet, and as he sprinted to cover I fired at him again. I cursed under my breath as I saw his face; he had found out where I was from that shot. Snake zigzagged to a protrusion of rocks twenty yards away from the tree. I continued to shoot, but he kept evading me until he reached cover. Snake waited, and I did as well.

After a few seconds, I could see the barrel of Snake's own sniper rifle over the rock pointed straight at me; before I could move, he got me right in the shoulder where he had shot me before. I let out a curse and ran for cover behind a different tree; Snake fired again, splitting the bark just above my head. My breath hitched, but I didn't move to shoot him right away. He didn't fire again, not sure whether or not he had hit me. After a little while, I 'peered' around the tree and fired straight for Snake's cover; he ducked right in time, my bullet hitting the rock and sending fragments of it flying everywhere.

I didn't wait for him to discover my position and ran for a clump of trees around the entrance; Snake stood and aimed, but I had gotten to cover before he could get a clear shot at me. I searched for him with the laser sight, but turned it off right as he fired at it. His bullet just barely missed me, and right as I aimed for him again he threw a stun grenade as a diversion; it exploded in the air, creating a bizarre lighting effect in the blizzard. He ran forward, kicking up the snow as he did; I got off two shots, though I had no idea how close they were. Snake dove for cover behind the first tree he could find right as one of my bullets _just _missed his neck.

I ducked back behind my cover and bit my lip; this wasn't good, I was injured before the fight, and he had winged me here. I wasn't on my best game, he was. I needed to find a better place to shoot; _I would not die in this place_. I looked around the trees nearby, searching for the perfect one to hide behind. After several seconds, I found the right one and made a dash for it. I was nearly there-

Blood erupted from my left lung, and more pain than I could've possibly imagined rippled through my body. My eyes were wider than the moon above as I crumpled to the ground, the PSG-1 flying out of my hands. No, no no _no_. This couldn't be happening, I couldn't have possibly been shot! We were going to win, _I was going to win_! How could this have happened, what did I do wrong, how did this happen, no! This wasn't fair, this wasn't fair, Allah-! Liquid needed me, they all needed me, I had a mission Naomi will be all alone Berthold will be destroyed I was going to get married Hal will be alone Liquid will be alone _Allah Allah ALLAH I DON'T WANT TO DIE!_

I hit the ground face up, and I took a few shuddering breaths as I started to calm down slightly; it hurt to breath, which made sense since there was a bullet in my lung. I stared up at the sky… Well, this would've happened eventually. It's the destiny of someone like me to die in battle. Liquid… I could hear the pack howling on the wind, Bert hold's the most mournful of them all. I heard footsteps crunching through the snow, then looked up; Snake. I didn't want to die, but I knew I couldn't be saved… The only option was for him to kill me quickly. I'd have to convince him to do that. Painstakingly, I used some of the last bits of my strength to fight down my tells, like I had so many years ago as a teenage girl trying to run from what hurt.

"I've waited for this moment," I rasped, "I am a sniper. Waiting… is my job… never moving a muscle… concentrating-" I interrupted myself by coughing up blood- "I am lung-shot. You cannot save me. Please. Finish me quickly." Snake did no such thing. He continued to look down at me with a face I couldn't read. Why wasn't he killing me? What did he want me to say? I didn't have any information… Well, Mantis gave him his life story…

"I am a Kurd," I continued, "I've always dreamed… of a peaceful place like this-" A lie. The desert was far more peaceful than this place. "I was born on a battlefield. Raised on a battlefield… Gunfire, sirens, screams… they were my lullabies. Hunted like dogs day after day, driven from our ragged shelters… that was my life. Each morning, I'd wake up and find a few more of my family or friends dead beside me. I'd stare at the morning sun and pray to make it through the day. The governments of the world turned a blind eye to our misery… But then… _he _appeared. My hero… Saladin. He took me away from all that…" I didn't dare mention Ganju; Snake had no right to know about him, he didn't need to know anything about the parts of my life that were actually happy.

"Saladin? You mean Big Boss?" Snake wondered. I nearly smiled; he was smarter than I gave him credit for. I looked over his head, and my eyes nearly widened a second time; in the sky… I could see dancing trails of light, the northern lights… I had heard of them, and I heard they were quite beautiful. Nothing anyone had said could compare to what I was seeing. Multi-colored ribbons of light, waving back and forth for no reason at all other than so people could see them… Maybe this wasn't so bad of a place to die.

"I became a sniper, hidden, watching everything through a rifle's scope," I continued as I stared at the spectacle in the sky before me, "Now I could see war not from the inside, but from the outside, as an observer. I watched the brutality, the stupidity or mankind, through the scope of my rifle. I joined this group of revolutionaries to get my revenge on the world."

Yet another lie, one that made me cough and gasp once more; I joined this revolution to change the world, to wrest it from Patriot hands, I joined because I believed in Liquid and I believed in Saladin. I could see in Snake's eyes, something about my story was making him hesitate just a fraction; No, he _had _to kill me quick, this hurt too much… The pack came out of the shadows, settling down around me and Snake; I could see Berthold within the 'crowd', looking absolutely miserable. I wanted to talk to him, tell him to be strong, but I couldn't. Snake didn't deserve to know about _anything _that made me happy.

"But, I have shamed myself and my people. I'm no longer the wolf I was born to be. In the name of vengeance, I sold my body and soul. Now, I'm nothing more than a dog," I murmured. Lies, lies, _lies_. I almost hated myself for telling these lies. … Perhaps they weren't lies… Even if this was true, there was nothing wrong with being a dog. Dogs, wolves, jackals, foxes, in the end there weren't any differences between them. They were all canines, and they were all beautiful animals with a sense of dignity that evolution could never take from them.

I briefly wondered if Liquid was watching, and whether he believed my lies; I certainly hoped not. I thought back to that loving smile he had given me before he left to kill Snake with the Hind D and nearly began to cry. I'd never see Liquid again. I'd never speak to him, I'd never be able to lean on his shoulder and just think about the feel of how warm he was. I remembered out in the desert years past, I remembered wondering whether I loved him or not… I wanted to go back in time and smack myself upside the head for being so oblivious. We would've gotten married… If I had the strength, I would've taken off my glove so I could see my ring clearly in this dark blizzard.

I fought back the urge to suddenly go off on a not-angry-tirade about all the good things that had happened in my life; I wanted to tell him that I had found a true family in FOXHOUND, how that no matter how insane and antisocial they all were I still found it in my heart to love them like I had been raised alongside them. I wanted to tell him about how Naomi, about how I had been an older sister- no, a _mother _to her, about how beautiful and smart she had become and how proud of her I was. I wanted to recount all my adventures with the old FOXHOUND when I was just a child, how they had helped shape me into the woman I was today and how seeing them die was one of the most awful things in the world.

I wanted to talk about Berthold, about how he stood by my side with a loyalty any human could only envy, and how much I wanted to thank him for persistently being the light of my life even when things were at their darkest. Most of all, I wanted so badly to go into my entire history with Liquid, how I had been closed off to him because I was loving a shadow, and how he had changed me for the better, and just how much I loved _everything _about him.

Perhaps… perhaps dying wasn't so bad. My life had been, on the whole, pretty happy. I almost smiled; I was ready for the afterlife. I had experienced more love and happiness in twenty-eight years (maybe even less than that) than some people receive in their entire lives, maybe that was an indicator of how ready I was to die. I only wished I could say a final goodbye to everyone personally… Well, that was unavoidable. I brought myself back to the present, and as I did I could see a kind of compassion in Snake's eyes that I suppose the both of us never expected.

"Wolves are noble animals," Snake said, "They're not like dogs. In Yupik, the word for 'wolf' is _kegluneq_, and the Aleuts revere them as honorable cousins. They call mercenaries like us 'dogs of war'. It's true; we're all for sale for some price or another. But you're different. You're untamed. Solitary. You're no dog. You're a wolf." Once again, I wanted to smile; it looked like Snake maybe did have a heart after all. For a second, I wondered if Snake even knew I was lying… Things started to blur, my vision fading in and out with my memories… For a second, Snake looked like Saladin.

"Who are you? Are you Saladin?" I murmured, squinting. Snake didn't answer, and my vision returned to normal. No, it was just Snake… I would've liked Saladin to be here for my last moments. Maybe he was, I didn't know.

"Wolf," Snake continued, "You spared Meryl's life."

"Even when I'm just an onlooker, I don't like to see women or children get hurt," I replied.

"Rest easy. You'll die as the proud wolf you are," Snake murmured. I smiled just a fraction; I was wrong about Snake. He wasn't _entirely _evil. Of course, he was something of a bastard, but he still had a heart. At least he was displaying that heart in my final moments… I could still see that hesitation in his eyes; I had to drive it home, end this pain and finally see the other side.

"I finally understand. I wasn't waiting to kill people… I was waiting for someone to kill me. A man like you… a hero… Please, set me free," I gasped. Snake got to his feet and drew his SOCOM, but the pack turned at the sound of feet crunching through the snow. The scenery rippled, and Hal appeared, tears streaming down his face. Oh Allah… Now he'd never know the truth about Liquid and me; I could never tell him, and now it would just destroy him.

"Why? I loved you," Hal exclaimed, his voice breaking. I couldn't say anything; I didn't know what to say. Apologizing to him would just make this worse, telling him the truth would destroy him, and I had already lied enough tonight…

"My gun… Give it to me. She's a part of me," I murmured, just realizing that. I wouldn't leave with out the PSG-1 at my side; that gun had been there through everything, and I wouldn't let go of it now. Hal scrambled to retrieve my gun, and I thought back to Ganju's rifle and Saladin's dogtags in the desert… My vision blurred, and for a second I could've sworn I saw Ganju, Saladin, and nearly everyone important to me who had died standing behind the wolves. When I saw the Sorrow among them, I knew they were here. They had come to see me off. Hal handed me the PSG-1- nearly dropping it on his way over- and I clutched it to my chest.

I looked around; Snake, Hal, Berthold, the pack, Ganju, Saladin, Manic Rat, Acid Crab, Black-Arts Falcon, Volatile Jaguar, Ghost Turtle, Decoy Octopus, Psycho Mantis, even my mother, they were all around me. I knew for a fact that Liquid was watching on the surveillance monitors; my gun was in my hands, and the northern lights were still dancing above me… This was the perfect way to die. I smiled; I was ready.

"Everyone is here," I whispered, focusing on the Aurora above. "Go on, Hero. Set me free." Hal turned away, covering his ears. Snake raised his gun, pulled the trigger, and it all went black as I could hear the echoed howling of the pack singing me a requiem.

_**~The End~**_


End file.
